


The Eye of the Dragon

by InkFlavored



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, M/M, Magical Artifacts, Memory Magic, Multi, Nightmares, Non-Graphic Violence, i just REALLY need to emphasize. dragons., its like. every single fantasy trope fellas, more tags to be added/messed with, this is an excuse for me to write about dragons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-09-27 13:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkFlavored/pseuds/InkFlavored
Summary: Yugi is on the run with a magical artifact that threatens his life. He didn’t choose this. He doesn’t want this. He just wants to take it back to where it belongs – and so do the people chasing him, as well as wishing to throw him behind bars and cash in the bounty on his head.But the law isn’t the only party interested in his boon. Criminals and instated royal guards alike are after him, and it’s all he can do to keep his head down when he flees from the City of Gold.From the City, and straight into the jaws of a dangerous third party he never expected.[ON A BREAK]





	1. The Hunter and The Hunted

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer right at the beginning: this fic will be updating very. very. slowly. i am a goblin who has too many long ideas going at once, so bear with me lmao 
> 
> hope you enjoy it regardless!

Yugi had been running for what felt like hours, and the second he stopped hearing the pound of pursuing footsteps, he nearly collapsed.

Panting, he leaned against a tree, cradling the burlap pouch in his hands to his chest, squeezing it periodically as if to reassure himself it hadn’t disappeared since the last time. His knees felt like jelly, and he sunk down to the dirt, wiping salty sweat or tears – he couldn’t tell which – from his face. He risked closing his eyes, heart working overtime, teeth chattering from the night chill and adrenaline. His blood felt like fire, every muscle in his legs pounded as he stretched them out on the cold ground. The hilt of the dagger he had hidden under his shirt poked at his spine, but he was too tired to care.

“Gods,” he heaved. “_Merciful_ Gods.” It wasn’t much of a prayer, but it was all he could muster in thanks.

He ran a hand down his face, and opened his eyes. He peeked inside the pouch, just to check – just to make _sure_ – that nothing happened to it. He smiled when he saw a familiar glint, and hastily closed the pouch again before he got any bad ideas. He couldn’t _risk_ using it, not now, it might kill him. Even if he desperately needed it, he would be lighting a beacon for his enemies, and unleashing a parasite on what little remained of his strength. No, he needed to move, _now_. He was losing moonlight.

Yugi pushed himself to his feet, ignoring his muscles’ groans of protest, cradling the pouch in one arm. He tugged his cloak tighter around his shoulders with the other and flicked the thin hood up, pulling it over his wild black and gold locks to shade his face. He glanced around to get his bearings.

He was surrounded by the thick, dark trunks of trees with broad leaves and tangled vines dangling from their branches. In the dark, they looked like tendrils, swaying the gentle breeze. The ground was hardly visible in places where vines and bushes exploded from the dirt. Where the ground was visible, it was marred with tangled roots and dead leaves the size of his palm. What moonlight slipped through the cracks between the dense canopy illuminated thin slivers of more and more trees. Miles and miles of thick, undisturbed forest.

A cold dread trickled into the back of Yugi’s mind: he had _no_ _idea_ where he was.

His head spun frantically. He muttered, “No, no, no, no,” under his breath, as if it would suddenly allow him to recognize the sinister looking trees standing in his path.

He _couldn’t afford_ to be lost. He had a _destination_ to get to. He had to know where he was – he had to get out of here!

“I left the City,” he recalled, squeezing his eyes shut, “heading north. So what’s north of the City?”

What _was_ north of the City of Gold? Maps usually ended at the border, and it was hard to get ones – even out of country – that marked further than the mountains. It was regarded as a No Man’s Land, of sorts. It didn’t even have a name, only a legend and a stigma. Nobody bothered marking it on a map because no one ever came this far north. No one except the Wild Folk, but they were nomadic, moving through the forest only temporarily. No one from _his_ country ever came here, especially because of the—

His eyes flashed open.

“Dragons,” he whispered.

No one came here because of the _dragons_.

He glanced at the bundle tucked into his arm. Panic in the form of bile rose in his throat. He had to get out of here. Now.

But how? He was lost in an unmapped part of the world, with no way to see the stars. He couldn’t tell which way was which – it’s not like he’d had time to mark his path when he vaulted over the City’s walls and sprinted in any direction that promised an escape from the horde of guards and criminals alike chasing him out.

Speaking of…if even one of them was brave enough to follow him into this Gods-forsaken place, he’d be in more trouble than he’d ever been in in his life. And that was saying something. It didn’t matter which direction he was going – he just had to move.

Yugi plucked some of the ferns from around the tree he’d slouched against, drew long sweeps in the dirt where he’d been sitting, and dropped them obscure the evidence some more. No one had to know he was here.

He looked out into the forest helplessly, trying to find out if there was a path or some kind of landmark, even an easier path through the trees. A particularly odd shaped root caught his eye, jutting out from the ground and making a tiny bridge from one tree trunk to the next. It was covered in thick moss that draped over it like a blanket. It looked just as inviting as the rest the forest.

Yugi headed that way, stepping over the gnarled root, and hoping he wasn’t going to get himself even _more_ hopelessly lost. He reached around to his back and pulled the dagger out of his waistband. Just in case.

“Let this be an exit,” he prayed, and headed into the strange forest.

As he trekked, it turned out he needed the dagger for clearing brush instead of defending himself. He used the blade to cut branches and dangling vines in his way, but no matter how much he cut, there was an endless path of foliage in his way. The forest only grew wilder as he continued, and more and more unfamiliar. He saw no animals, but he heard their sounds – the screech of a strange bird, the croak of an animal that _definitely_ wasn’t a frog, the growl of some kind of giant cat – which only reminded him of just how ignorant he was of everything in this place. And how easy a target he would be.

It also got hotter. _Much_ hotter. He’d only been travelling for a quarter of an hour before he had to shed his cloak and roll up his sleeves, huffing and puffing even though he was trudging at a snail’s pace through the thick underbrush. When his boots started squelching in mud, water leaking from a nearby creek, it only got harder to keep moving and stay cool.

It had only been an hour, but Yugi was already starting to despise it.

“I am going to _leave_,” he promised to himself, hacking his way through more branches and vines. “I am going to _get back_ to Domino Tower. I’m going to get _out._ Of this _stupid. Forest_.”

He angrily shoved a branch out of his way, and it came back with a _thawp_ into his eye.

“And _Gods damn_ these trees!” he growled. The tree had nothing to say back.

He reached up to cut the branch down, but his shoulders sagged and ached. Muscles all over his body protested at taking a single extra step, moving an extra inch. He sagged against a trunk for the second time that night.

Stopping at night was dangerous – stopping at all was dangerous. He glanced down at his heavily laden arm, at his cloak thrown over the pouch. It was risky, staying here, in a strange place, with strange creatures, with such precious cargo. But it didn’t look like his body was giving him any other choice. Besides, he reasoned as he slid down the tree to sit, even if he _was_ followed it’s not like it was possible to tell which way he went.

At the bottom of this trunk, his vision was entirely obscured by ferns, even the dim moonlight taken from him. The ground was slick – not quite muddy – and the tree’s bark was rough and uneven at his back. He curled his knees into his chest, dagger in one hand and bundle of cloth in the other. His eyelids started to drift closed, but he snapped them open. He needed to focus on keeping himself _alive_ first. When he was sure there wasn’t anyone after him, _then_ he’d sleep.

He was debating the merits of building a fire when he drifted away.

_Ten thousand lights. Not in the sky, on the ground. Ten thousand, maybe more, little specks of lights, moving about on a vast, endless sandy plain. Like lightning bugs, they flitted from one to another to another, running about the dunes like a gigantic anthill._

_It should have been beautiful. He _wanted_ it to be beautiful. But he knew. _

_A shadow, of the deepest, most impossible blacks, crawled over the horizon. A wave, a tsunami, of black, of fear, of dread. It was cold like the coldest of winters, and hot like the brightest of fires. It was terrible and beautiful. It was war and peace. _

_It was death and dead and dying._

_One by one, the shadow claimed each speck of light, swallowed them whole. It snaked across the sand and consumed each light, each life, each tiny piece of almost-beauty. All he could do was watch and wait. It was all he ever did. _

_The last light was swallowed, and a darkness so thick it could be cut enveloped the land and sky. It made up the very air he breathed, choking him from the inside out, in his mouth, in his lungs, _

** _Do you see what we could be, Little Master?_ **

_The voice was everywhere and nowhere at once._

_“I see it,” he said, as he always did. “I do not want it.”_

** _You use my power at great cost, yet you reject what I offer for free? You are a curious one, Little Master_ ** _._

_“I do not need it.”_

** _You will. You will need it like blood and air and water._ **

_“I won’t.”_

** _We shall see._ **

_The darkness pounced, then, and rushed up his nose and down his throat – it filled him absolutely and there was no escape. He tried to scream, to run, to hide. He tried to open his eyes. _

_There was only darkness._

Yugi jerked awake with a gasp, scrabbling at his throat, trying to get air back into his lungs in heavy, deep breaths. The darkness faded from his vision and his tightened chest loosened. He was okay. 

“Just a dream,” he told himself. “It’s only a dream.”

Blinking hard, he rubbed his eyes and stretched his sore muscles, strung taut and pulsing with the consistent, dull ache that always plagued him after hard travel. His clothes were covered in dirt from sleeping on the ground, but he’d been seen wearing worse. He half-heartedly brushed off his sides and the backs of his legs. It’s not like anyone would be around to judge him for looking like he just spent the night in a pigsty.

And speaking of clothes, _where_ was his cloak? More importantly, the pouch inside it.

Yugi sat up straighter, glancing around the fern infested dirt, his heart in his throat…and relaxed when he saw it tossed to one side, next to his dagger. He must have been sleeping pretty restlessly.

He stood up, joints creaking and popping, to retrieve them. He slipped his dagger into his waistband again, tucking it under his shirt. As he gathered the pile of dark fabric, something heavy tumbled out of his grasp and _thunked_ onto the ground.

A golden pyramid, a narrow Eye – open and bordered with swirling designs carved onto its face – stared up at Yugi from the dirt, glittering and gleaming in the light peeking through the leaves and ferns. It was marred with splits and crevices, as if it had been shattered into countless pieces and stuck back together.

He shook out his cloak until the burlap pouch fell out next to it. “Come on, you can’t be out in the open,” he chastised. He picked up the pouch and tucked the golden thing safely inside. He wrapped it with his cloak again – there was no way he was going to wear something like that in this place. He was already uncomfortably warm without it.

_Maybe that’s why I had the nightmare_, he thought. He kept the Pendant wrapped up for his personal safety, but also a simple comfort. Whenever he slept with it out in the open, he tended to have horrible dreams.

_This Item wields a great and terrible power. Use it wisely. Do not let it out of your sight._

A pang shot through Yugi’s chest as he remembered the words of Solomon, his teacher. Well. _Former_ teacher.

He shook himself. There was no time for that – he could reminisce about his past when he was back in a place where he could see the sky.

The forest around him looked less sinister during the day – the dark brown-green that the nighttime had colored the leaves was left behind for a bright, energetic color instead. What the sun _couldn’t_ change was the sheer amount of stuff it was filled with. There was hardly air to breathe because of the ridiculously thick trees and plants. If Yugi had to pick one word to describe this forest it would be “Gods-forsaken,” but his next choice would be, “overgrown.”

He sighed and drew his dagger again. His work was never done.

Granted, it was a lot easier to navigate the forest during the day, where he could actually see where he was going. Not that it helped in way of telling him which _direction_ he was going.

“People say that _dragons_ live here?” Yugi grumbled, slicing his way through yet another cluster of ferns. “They’d get stuck between the trees. Or get strangled by vines. Or trip over a _million_ blasted roots.” He stumbled over one of the oddly shaped roots, and spat on it. He continued through the forest, pensive as he traversed the trails his thoughts had led his mind down. Dragons.

Truly, the idea of dragons in the north was more superstition and rumor than fact, and Yugi wasn’t usually a superstitious person. Dragons were the one exception to that rule, because he had more reason than most to believe. More than believe – he _knew_ they were real. Gods above knew he’d never forget the day he saw one with his own eyes. He couldn’t decide if it was incredible or horrible. In a different situation, he might have even thought it was beautiful. But his first – _only_ – interaction with a dragon hadn’t gone well. For anyone. If there really _were_ dragons here, he was as good as dead already.

He tried not to think about it.

Something _plopped_ onto his nose. Something wet, something that splashed. Then another on his cheek, and on his shoulder. Then dozens of raindrops fell, through the leaves and onto the ground. And, by extension, Yugi.

“Absolutely fantastic,” he grumbled.

Taking no heed of his irritation, the clouds above rumbled.

The dirt squelched as Yugi trudged his way through the forest, his boots sticking in the ground for _just_ long enough to be irritating for someone who was trying to move quickly. The bundle in his arm was soaked within minutes, not to mention _himself_. At least he wasn’t cold. If anything, the forest grew warmer. Stickier. The air was thick, like breathing through water.

To make matters worse, his stomach started growling. He winced as he realized he hadn’t eaten since three mornings ago. He didn’t have much in the way of coin, and he hated to steal from hardworking shopkeepers. The escape from the City of Gold hadn’t given him much time to break for any sort of meal, either. He stopped, leaning under the cover of a tree from the steadily increasing rainfall.

He figured that he’d have to _survive_ getting out of this blasted place to get back to Domino Tower, so he couldn’t completely ignore his hunger. He scanned his surroundings for any familiar berry bushes, but found nothing that wasn’t poisonous – he silently thanked Tristan for alerting him to Nightshade and White Death when they were children. What animal tracks he saw were quickly obscured by mud or the size of both his hands put together, and twice as deep. There was _no way _he could hunt something like that with only a knife.

Some of the leaves had started collecting water like little bowls, hanging down from their branches low enough to drink from. He sipped from a fist-sized leaf and grimaced at the dirty taste. It was better than nothing, though. He downed the rest of the rainwater, ignoring his taste buds, and leaned back against the tree. His stomach groaned.

He sighed, almost feeling himself wither. He’d gone longer without food before, but it was an ordeal he didn’t want to have to repeat.

He shifted the wet bundle in his arms, then glanced down at it. There was a chance that he wouldn’t _have_ to eat at all. The Pendant could perform many tricks, with his prompting of course. It could sustain him for days on nothing but magic alone. It would eliminate the need for foot or rest of any kind. He would have so much more _time_, so much more _energy_—

_Do not do this unless you are certain you have no other choice_, came Solomon’s experienced voice. _Even if you are on the brink of death, you must resist using the Pendant this way. It could destroy you_.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek. Was it worth it?

If – _when_ he made it out of the forest, it would take him at least two weeks to get back to the Tower on foot, a time where he would need his strength the most. Would it be worth it to use the Pendant then instead of now? Should he simply push on? He was strong enough to survive a few days without food, but _weeks_?

A faint tug at his mind made him pause. It was small, but insistent, prodding the part of him where he coaxed free his magic. It was an alien touch, not human or animal, but something else entirely. Something _made_ of magical energy, like a spell come to life. It didn’t speak in any language, but in the voice of emotions alone – temptation, desire, suggestion. _Let free your inhibitions_, it seemed to say, _use the power._

That settled decision for him: Absolutely not.

Empty stomached, but stone faced with determination, Yugi continued his slog through the hot, rainy forest. He never trusted things that entered his mind without permission, slipping past his carefully erected barriers. Especially not ones like the Pendant. He shuddered as he sliced through another low-hanging branch.

The “bond” he shared with the golden Item was imperfect at best, and parasitic at worst. Even worse, he couldn’t block it out of his mind without disrupting the connection they shared, and risking cutting loose his magic until they reconnected. So he just had to put up with it.

It was constantly trying to force his hand toward using its more sinister powers, and in the process, probably kill him. He’d known this would happen long before he was allowed to take hold of it. He’d been warned countless times that the Pendant was the strongest of the Items at Domino Tower’s disposal – its call especially difficult to ignore – but he took the responsibility of being its Keeper anyway. No one else was willing, and no one else was strong enough. After the ceremony, he had been met with a mixture of resigned despair and pride from Solomon. And that was the only reaction he expected to get.

The other students at Domino Tower had whispered about the Pendant all through his apprenticeship, and then some. _The last person to wield the Pendant went mad, slaughtered a village, was killed out of jealousy, had their soul sucked out_, and many other gruesome stories. After he was picked to be the Pendant’s next Keeper, it was hard to ignore the sad and fearful looks the others slung his way – everywhere from the hallways to the dormitories to the canteen – as if he was going to drop dead at any minute and take the whole tower with him. But Yugi was convinced that he _wasn’t_ going to be even tangentially related to one of those stupid stories. He wouldn’t be reduced to a silly rumor among schoolchildren. He’d be as normal of a Keeper as he could.

_Unfortunately_, he thought, smiling wryly, _that’s probably a lost cause. There’s probably a half-spun drama being written about me right now_. He vaguely wondered what everyone back home thought of him.

Joey would be insisting that he’d be home “any day now,” no matter how long he’d actually been gone. Téa would be keeping everyone’s spirits up, but wouldn't mention him as much. Duke would be throwing himself into his work as a distraction, and Tristan would probably make grandiose speeches about how great Yugi was doing on his own, while silently praying he was right. Ryou would bring him up at random, without preamble, with a kind but meaningful look. To force everybody to think about him for a little while. Yugi wasn’t sure if he was alright with that, especially if he never came home. Although, if he never came home, he wouldn’t exactly be one to complain, then, would he?

He shoved the ugly thought out of his mind. He _would_ get home. It was only a matter of how.

The rain was coming down in sheets, now, only slightly hampered by the thick canopy of the forest above. Yugi’s grip on his knife was failing, hands slick in the consistent downpour, with no help from the constant puddles of mud he often got trapped in. He was soaked to the bone, mud and stray leaves coating his boots to the middle of his calves, spitting water periodically as it flooded his mouth.

Yugi had been on the run for a long time – for months – but this forest made him more miserable than he’d been in quite a while, with its oppressive heat and heavy rain and strange animals. Thunder cracked overhead like gods clashing swords and he jumped, his soaked hair slapping his cheeks and fixing itself there. He wiped it away and continued his thankless journey. 

“_There was once a man from Atumpeck / Who clung tight to his sword_,” he half-sang, just barely loud enough to be heard over the rain. “_He felled his foes both man and beast / He could not be deterred._” He smiled despite himself, reminded of he and his friends signing along drunkenly on long nights. His melody gained confidence, gradually getting louder. _“Then came along a stranger fair / They shined like all the stars. / The man thought ‘I must have them now,’ / ‘No other will suffice.’_”

A spring in his step distracted him from the tangle of roots and ferns, forgetting the humid rain of the forest for the warmth of a full tavern. “_He approached the stranger fair, / One day with birds a-chirping. / He got down on one knee an-_aah!”

Yugi stumbled back hurriedly, careening to one side and landing in the mud. His back pressed against a twisted root, but he didn’t dare move. He watched, wide-eyed, as the beast that had sent him to a screeching halt turned around.

A large, cat-like animal, taller at the shoulder than Yugi by at least a head, ceased scratching two of its six clawed feet against a fallen tree, and dropped to the ground, haunches raised even higher. The downpour of rain flicked off its whiskers and slated off its thick, silvery-purple fur like a waterfall. A short tail swished between its back legs. Two small, brown eyes swept the ground in his direction, full of rage. Two hooked fangs curled up from its bottom lip, a dirty yellow-white. It growled, scrunching its top lip to reveal a row of sharp canines. It took a step toward him, its claws sinking heavily into the mud.

Yugi was reminded of the giant pawprint he saw earlier in the day, as the cat lifted its foot. The imprint was as deep as his thumb was wide. His nervous breath caught in his chest.

The beast’s ears flattened against its head as it took another careful step, three feet moving in unison. The beady brown eyes swept along the ground. Yugi clenched his free hand around the hilt of his dagger.

Or he would have, if it had been there.

His heart dropped like a stone when he gripped a handful of empty dirt. He felt completely naked, exposed, defenseless. He didn’t take his eyes off the cat, desperately searching in the mud. _Knife, knife, knife, _he thought. _Where’s my Gods-damned _knife?

The cat’s ears flicked in his direction. He froze. It growled.

He clutched his cloth bundle closer, and started to shuffle backwards, praying the loud rainfall would muffle the sound.

It didn’t.

The cat pounced forward, claws unsheathed, and Yugi only just managed to roll out the way. He struggled to his feet and tore back the way he came, the cold rain pelting his face. The sound of six pursuing paws and tearing foliage was close behind, the beast pushing off trees and ripping up the underbrush in its pursuit.

He leapt over logs, ducked under branches, and shoved aside ferns as best he could with one arm, the Pendant still clutched to his chest. No matter what he couldn’t afford to lose it. The paws behind him got louder.

He yelped when he felt the swipe of claws at his heels, ducking his head and charging through the rain and branches. He could hardly _see_ through the curtain of rain, but that didn’t matter. He had to go faster. He had to get away. He had to _run_.

His lungs burned, his legs shook, but he kept going. He dove around trees in a futile attempt to lose the pursuing creature, but it pressed on. Every time he chanced a look behind him, there was a tree with a gouge carved into its trunk.

Jaws snapped in his peripheral vision, beady eyes glowing furiously. He pitched to the other side, hanging a sharp left. His heels skidded in the dirt and he almost fell, but he pushed one arm off the ground and crossed the other over his chest tightly. The corner of the Pendant dug into his skin through the fabric. He kept running.

He kept running. He _kept running_. The rain was in his mouth and his ears and his eyes. He was covered in mud up to his waist. His head was swimming with exhaustion and adrenaline at once. But he couldn’t stop – he _wouldn’t_ stop. Not yet, not now.

He flung himself around another corner, sprinting in any direction he thought would lead _away_, but the cat was fast. It didn’t even seem to be tired. And Yugi was _so_ tired.

So tired he almost ran face first into the gigantic wall of stone blocking his path ahead.

“No,” he gasped, screeching to a halt in the open clearing he found himself in. “No, no, no.”

He looked up – It wasn’t just stone. It was a mountain. He was trapped.

Something heavy thumped behind him. He didn’t hesitate in pressing his back against the stone, as far from the beast as he could get.

The cat was prowling from the treeline. Not running. Not leaping. It was crouched, creeping slowly ahead. Its lip lifted in an angry snarl as it bared down on him. Yugi could hardly get air into his lungs. He pressed against the mountain, as if he could magically melt into the wall and escape. He had no weapon, no energy, no defenses.

No defenses, that is… except one.

If there was any time to use the Pendant, it was _now_.

Yugi shook out his cloak as fast as he could, the wet fabric releasing the heavy sack. He dropped it to the dirt. He lifted the Pendant out of its casing – he dropped that too, taking the golden pyramid into both his hands. It was already glowing, sensing his intentions.

The cat was mere steps away now. He forced his eyes shut and held the Pendant under his ribs.

Yugi dove into the depths of his mind, to the very back of his consciousness and found the Well. It was deep and dark and held more power than he’d known what to do with before he started his training. But now he was trained. Now he knew what it was for.

He reached into his Well and _tugged_.

An unnatural blue light burned around his vision when he opened his eyes. The whole world was tinted in a bright cyan, everything was clearer, sharper. He felt his exhaustion disappear. His hunger lifted. His muscles relaxed. The Pendant hummed between his hands, as if satisfied. It was warm to the touch, and he knew if he looked down, he would have seen a blue flame burning between his fingers. Harmless, of course.

The beast had halted in its tracks, two of its six feet poised for another step it would never take.

“Down boy,” Yugi said.

He thrust the Pendant forward and the magic exploded.

Sky-blue lightning burst from the Eye on the face of the pyramid and enveloped the cat in a cocoon of electricity. It yowled and screeched, barely visible in the torrent of power, swirling like a tornado as Yugi pushed and _pushed_ _and_ _pushed_ the magic out.

He dove to the depths of his Well and felt the power course through his bones and his mind burn white hot, thoughts gone blank with the energy. The feeling of magic in his hands only made him want more – made him _thirst_ for more – and the Item in his fingers took his desires to heart, encouraging him to dip greedily to the bottom of his reserves. For a grand total of eight and a half seconds, he felt like the most powerful thing in the world.

But the cat had already fallen dead, and he had to stop.

Yugi broke the surface of the magic at the top of his Well and the cyan light dimmed. As soon as his vision was back to normal. His forgotten exhaustion came back tenfold. The Pendant tumbled from his hands. He collapsed to his knees and landed face-first in the dirt. He let the rain hammer on his back and tried to force his eyes to stay open.

He stared at the single Eye of the Pendant, lying next to him on the ground. The gold flashed, as if winking. He frowned at it. And at himself.

Yugi had lost control for a dangerous amount of time. Letting the Pendant guide him – even for a few seconds – was begging for an early death, especially considering how physically weak he was. It could have destroyed him, all because he wasn’t paying attention. He got lucky this time, but he was going to have to do better in the future.

“No more of that,” he promised, and pushed himself onto his knees.

The rain hadn’t let up, but the corpse of the jungle cat was still smoking. All six of its legs were curled up into its body, and its face was frozen in a permanent, disfigured yowl. He tried not to be sick. At least there wasn’t any blood.

The wind changed direction suddenly, and the smell of the cat’s charred flesh assaulted his nostrils. He disgusted himself by thinking about eating it. He was further disgusted by his stomach’s loud protest at the thought of _not_ eating it.

Yugi stood up and hobbled over to the body of the cat, pressing his hands to the enormous body. It was still warm, somehow, and he could feel the excess magic that lingered from the lightning blast. The hairs on his arms made a feeble attempt to stand upright, slicked down by the rain.

It was a strange creature, in a strange place, nearly scorched beyond recognition. It was disgusting. But it was already cooked, and likely the closest thing he’d ever have to a meal in weeks.

Resigned, he patted himself down to skin the beast, only to curse at the loss of his knife. There was no _way_ he would be able to find it now – he could hardly remember which direction he’d come from.

A tug in his mind drew his eye to the Pendant, still lying in the grass. He pouted.

“Only because I don’t have a choice,” he said, marching over to pick it up. He looked it sternly in the Eye. “I’m keeping you on a shorter leash this time. Don’t try me.”

The threat was empty. He couldn’t get rid of the Pendant and both of them knew it.

Yugi knelt down by the cat, setting the Pendant in his lap, and reached back into his Well. This time, he built a solid bottom for the pool, only using the minimum of what he needed. He wasn’t _completely_ at the golden thing’s mercy. He could feel its disappointment as he lifted his glowing hands over the cat’s body.

“Tough luck,” he muttered. He raised one hand vertically in the air, elbow bent at a perfect right angle. “You’re _my_ Item.” He sliced his other hand through the air sideways, and the skin of the cat tore itself off the muscle, peeling itself back to reveal the flesh. “And I’m not going to let you make the rules.”

The Pendant couldn’t talk or understand him. Not in a “normal,” way, nothing beyond vague approximations of feelings. It wasn’t even _alive_, technically. It just had enough magic within it to create a ghost of a personality, a mockery of a soul. It ran purely on instinct and self-preservation, no more intelligent than an insect. It existed only to feed itself to keep that magic alive – all of the Items did, and they would leech the world of power if left unchecked. That’s why they needed Keepers. To control them. To dominate them.

Even still, Yugi could have sworn it was laughing at him sometimes.

He tried to ignore the unnatural shiver up his back as he worked his way down the body of the cat. His fiery hands ordered the meat to separate and land in a neat pile at his side. It smoked with the energy, quickly put out by the persistent downpour.

He could tell it was going to be tough and dry – more of a jungle-cat-jerky than a nice cut of meat – but he couldn’t find the energy to care too much. Considering how much of the meat was rendered inedible by the lightning, he was more than willing to count the blessings the Gods had granted him.

Yugi had no idea how long he sat there, but it was long enough that the rain finally let up, revealing a late afternoon sun to dry out his sopping wet clothes, hair, and meat. He sat back on his hips, releasing the magic and blinking hard at the yellow-white light as the blue in his vision faded. He rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes.

If he was exhausted before, he was bone-weary now. Using the Pendant _twice_ in one day – first recklessly and then for an extended period – was a terrible idea. As if he’d had a choice.

He sighed and struggled to his feet, the pyramid rolling off his knees and next to the hollowed-out carcass of the cat. Yugi staggered back to the mountain, where he’d dropped his cloak and the burlap sack. They were caked in mud and damp from the rain, but he picked them up and shook them clean as best he could.

He went back to his pile of not-quite-jerky. He shoved the Pendant back into its sack and piled what meat he could salvage from the cat into his cloak, bundling it up and throwing it over his shoulder. He cradled the Pendant in the crook of his arm and wobbled back to the forest. He didn’t know where else to go.

It wasn’t long before he had to stop again. The sky was still blue, so it couldn’t have been that late in the day, but Yugi slouched against a broad-leafed tree and prepared to settle down for the night.

He unwrapped his cloak and curled up against the tree trunk with a strip of the cat meat. It was definitely cooked through. It was tough and leathery, even after being rained on. It was graciously bland, too, so he didn’t have to think about the source. He tore at it with his teeth, hardly chewing before taking another bite. He went through three strips as long as his forearm before he stopped, hunger from his foodless three days finally sated.

The corners of the cloak were folded back over his food supply and the whole thing was pulled into his lap, along with the Pendant. He couldn’t take it anymore – he had to sleep.

Yugi closed his eyes and was unconscious within seconds, arms folded limply around everything he owned.

And at the same time he slept, something _else_ woke up.

“That there’s the most bleedin’ disgustin’ thing I’ve ever seen in me life.”

Uldan Jarrut – leader of the City of Gold’s most notorious criminal presence – stood over the mutilated corpse of some kind of weird cat thing. He could hardly see it in the dark of night, but he could tell that much about it. What kind of cat has six legs?

“Fuckin’ absurd ‘s what that is,” he reiterated, nudging it over with a steel-toed boot.

“He was here, alright,” said a voice ahead of him – Brio, one of his many partners in crime. “Look.”

Uldan averted his morbid gaze from the carcass and trudged over, crossing his broad arms across his chest. “What?”

Brio, a taller man than Uldan, but lankier in stature, pointed out a jagged cut that carved its way across the grass from the base of the nearby mountain wall to the place the dead cat-thing rested. “This marking – it was burned into the ground.”

“So?”

“So what _else_ around here could do this much damage to a single spot?”

Uldan was unphased. “Was rainin’ earlier today. Could have jus’ been lightnin’ that got the beast.” He jerked his thumb back toward the carcass.

“And the lightning picked it clean, did it?”

“Could’ve been a bird.”

“Bull_shit_ it was a bird—”

“I’m just sayin’ you don’t know for _sure_ it was ‘im.”

Brio straightened up, defiant. “In fact, I do. And I can prove it.”

The bigger man gestured with one of his hands – _Be my guest_.

With a flourish, Brio untied a fist-sized pouch from the many hanging on his belt, and opened it up. A small white cloud erupted from the leather, like the puff of a pipe. He dipped inside and quickly back out to reveal a white powder coating his index finger up to the first knuckle.

“See this?” he said, rubbing his finger and thumb together. “This is ground Mage Moss.”

Uldan nodded. “Heard of it.”

“Everyone has. It’s the easiest way to detect leftover magic without hiring out from the Tower. Watch.”

Brio took a pinch of the powder and scattered it over the harsh burn mark. Nothing happened. Uldan snorted, already turning to leave, but his companion put an eager hand on the back of his arm.

“Wait, wait,” he insisted. “Watch it.”

He rolled his eyes, but looked back at the ground anyway. And cocked an eyebrow.

Where the powder rested, there was now a hazy golden glow, shimmering like the air above a raging bonfire. The criminals gave each other matching wolf-like grins.

Encouraged, Brio scattered more of the dust on the ground, following the trail to the cat. The carcass lit up like the sunset in a wash of gold. More moss revealed a fading trail leading back into the forest.

“Told you,” Brio declared, planting a dusty hand on his hip.

Uldan wasn’t even paying attention, smiling greedily at the pouch of Mage Moss and rubbing his hands together. “We got ‘im this time.”

“Should we get the rest of the boys?”

He snapped out of his scheming. “Right, right.”

Taking a huge breath in, he crowed into the sky like a wolf howling at the moon, using every second of air in his lungs. Birds flew from their perches in the surrounding trees, fluttering deeper into the forest. More followed as three more howls exploded from the canopy – answering the call.

He couldn’t help the victorious laugh that burst from his chest. “Oh, he’s not gonna know what hit ‘im, poor bastard.”

Brio shook his head, similarly amused. “I almost feel bad.”

Uldan clapped his skinny partner on the shoulder as he made his way into the trees. “Don’t be sorry yet, Bri. The Golden Boys only pity _corpses_.”


	2. Shadows and Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...okay so i finished this chapter way earlier than i expected to finish it, so it thought i'd just post it now! sure! fuck it!!!

Yugi jerked awake from his dreamless sleep to a chilling howl.

He blinked rapidly, confused that it was still dark when his eyes were open. For one lethargic moment, he thought he might have gone blind. Then he heard another howl, and another, and another. Were there wolves in this forest too?

Before he could even recognize what he was doing, he was on his feet and moving again. In the half of his mind that was awake, he registered that if there were wolves nearby enough to hear them howling that loudly, he was probably in their territory. The part of him that was still dreaming thought about hunting trips back home, lying on the ground in the camp he pitched with Tristan and Joey. Listening to the distant howling – quieter than these wolves, but still haunting. Whispering in the dark, debating whether they were too close to the pack’s hunting grounds to stay the night.

He stumbled over a log, muscles protesting at being awake before they were ready. He adjusted his makeshift cloak-sack on his shoulder and pulled the Pendant closer to his chest. Everything was still there. He pushed on.

If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that the food helped him significantly. Even after being rudely awoken, he could feel the extra energy in his body, blissfully replenished from his quite _eventful_ day. It was nice to have a full stomach again, too. Full-_ish_. He snuck another piece of the cat-jerky from the bundle to gnaw on while he walked.

The forest was quiet. Which was odd. He’d only been in this place for a night and a day, but “quiet” didn’t seem to be a word it understood. No growls, no hoots, no croaking – even the wolves had gone silent. A creeping trepidation began to pull back the curtain of his drowsiness.

Yugi took careful notice of everything he could make out in the dark. The sense of wrongness only increased when he realized that most of the trees around him were _young_ by nature’s standards. The rest of the forest was remarkably old – that was clear just by the size of it. The trunks had been old and gnarled, with twisted roots and hundreds upon hundreds of branches hanging with age. But the trees around him now were smooth, even-set, reaching for the sky flawlessly. They were even spaced farther apart, making it easier for him to traverse the ferns and bushes. Almost… planned.

He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at _all_.

Yugi stopped walking. There was no way a forest this overgrown would coincidentally have such a young section right in the middle of it – one that was easy to _walk_ no less. This was intentional. It was either a trap or leading to a destination, and he didn’t like the sound of either option. He felt like he was being guided by some kind of invisible hand, which he would _not_ put up with. He already had _one_ thing trying to manipulate all his decisions. He didn’t need another.

He turned away from the newer looking trees and walked into the nearest ones that looked older. It wasn’t by any significant amount, but they at least looked like they’d seen some age. Some wear and tear.

While the trees were a little more aged, the dirt beneath him certainly wasn’t. It was soft, not just from the downpour of rain in the day, but soft like newly sprouted grass – and just as green. Like freshly tilled soil on a farm. It hard hardly a bump of a root, or sign of overgrown foliage.

The flatness of the ground beneath him wasn’t something he ever thought he’d be troubled by. Just hours ago, he would have fallen to his knees and sung the praises of the Three Divines if he could have gotten away from the countless gnarled roots and rocks. But Yugi caught onto patterns very quickly, and a pattern as consistent as this forest breaking for no discernable reason gripped the part of his mind he used to use for gambling. It was a tell. A crack in the armor. And he didn’t like what he saw.

Maybe it was his sense of growing paranoia, maybe it was his body’s begrudging alertness at last, or maybe it was the easier terrain, but Yugi found himself moving at quite a pace through the trees. The heat of the day had dropped significantly for a cooler night, but he still had to stop against a tree and wipe sweat off his brow, catching the breath he didn’t realize he’d lost.

“Calm down, Yugi,” he muttered. “It’s just a forest.”

_A forest with giant six-legged cats_, his brain unhelpfully reminded him. He shoved the thought away; he hadn’t seen a single additional pawprint since he killed the one that was feeding him. That was alarming for its own reasons, but it was better than being hunted. Probably.

Through the leaves overhead, he noticed the darkness start to fade into early-morning grays. An almost-ghostly light peered around the branches to hit the forest floor, and he smiled. The daylight would take his mind off the mysteries surrounding him at every turn. At least, he _hoped_ it would.

He trotted off again, surveying the trees around him. Still frightfully young. It reminded him of the forests back home, the trees dotting the hillside new enough that his grandfather remembered watching them grow. And suddenly the youth the forest didn’t seem as sinister as it once was.

Yugi sighed at himself. He tucked the Pendant into his elbow and taking another strip of jerky from his cloak, half-heartedly biting down. Was he seeing monsters in shadows that didn’t exist? Maybe this part of the forest was just _young_. Maybe there’d been a forest fire. There were plenty of _reasonable_ explanations for there to not be as many older trees. Although it would have made more sense for them to be younger near the City of Gold, but nature often had the habit of not “making sense.” It did what it pleased, when it pleased.

Like… back home again. When the river ran wild in the summer and flooded the nearby farms. It was predictable enough to prepare for, thankfully, and he spent countless hot afternoons of his earlier years digging canals that would flow seamlessly to the crops when the rains swelled the riverbed. What a “welcome home” from Domino Tower _that_ always was.

A pang shot through him at the thought of his old academy. At the thought of going _back_. What would they say? What would they _do_? Would they turn him in, like the criminal everyone assumed he was? Would he even get the chance to explain himself first?

He glanced down at the bundle in his arm, oddly shaped from the pyramid inside. Technically, he _was_ a criminal. And that _thing_ he bound his magic to however many years ago was the proof.

But he hadn’t _meant_ to be, that was the thing. He ran because he didn’t have a choice. Right? He couldn’t have done anything without endangering even more lives.

Right?

He scuffed the ground and grumbled at nothing in particular. There was no point in thinking about that now. What was done was done. He couldn’t take it back. He was a fugitive by choice, and no matter what that meant for him, he had to accept his fate. He angrily tore off more jerky from the strip in his hand.

_To the Wicked Gods with fate_, he thought, chewing like he had a grudge against his teeth. _And may it rot in Their Halls_.

It was a nice sentiment, but it didn’t exactly help much.

He swallowed sighed again. He let himself fantasize for a moment, Divines and Their plans for his future be damned:

What if he’d never had his Manifest?

What if he _hadn’t_ accidentally set that burglar on fire when he was too young to even understand what it meant to cause harm to another person? What if that man had broken in, and Yugi had just been the frightened child he thought he always was? What would have happened, then? Would he even still be alive?

What if he _hadn’t_ been born a mage? What if he’d just been allowed to stay and grow up at home, in Three Streams, instead of being shipped off to the Tower as soon as his family learned of his power? What if his Manifest had just been _different_? If it had been less dangerous, would he have been carted off so early? Maybe he wouldn’t have needed a chaperone to follow him around the Tower in his early years of training, at least.

If he’d been allowed to grow up _with_ his friends, instead of coming to visit every so often and finding they’d already done so, how much would have changed? Would he have been a better hunter from spending more time with Tristan, or a better fighter if he stuck by Joey? Would Ryou have taught him how to spin a decent story? Would Duke have taught him how to help out around his father’s tavern? Would Téa have taught him to dance? Would she have… looked at him any different?

_Alright_, he chastised, slapping himself out of his own mind, _that’s enough moping around_.

He shook himself, literally this time, and shoved the rest of the jerky into his mouth. He forced his eyes to focus on his _present_ location, wide and alert. After all, how else was he supposed to…

To…

“Gods above,” he breathed, because it was all he could do.

The forest was ripped open to the sky, and Yugi found himself standing in the middle of a natural disaster.

Trees – both young and old – were torn apart all around him, lying on their sides with their roots ripped out of the ground. The wood was clawed to shreds, leaving nothing to show for its previous shape. Dirt and grass clung desperately to them, as if simply being there would right the fallen trunk again.

Splintered and broken, he counted at least six upturned trees – _large_ trees – in the single spot where he stood. Of the ones that were still standing, many were being crushed by their fallen brethren, or bore huge gashes in their trunks.

He felt the need to look over his shoulder, every red flag in his mind raised and waving frantically. Carefully, he approached the nearest standing tree, dropping his cloak and the Pendant to inspect the gouge in the wood.

He ran his hand down the edge of it, and was shocked at just how _deep_ it was. Even these young trees were tall and tough, but whatever had torn through these seemed to have done it effortlessly. The shape of the split looked like a scaled-up version of a claw mark, like the ones left by the jungle cat as it scraped off of trees. But no creature he ever heard of had claws _this_ big. And to do so much _damage_… It had created its own _clearing_ in the middle of the forest.

But it _couldn’t_ have been an “it.” It must have been a _what_ – a storm, lightning, a twister. This was _impossible_ for anything living to do.

The branches on a nearby tree rustled. Yugi snatched the Pendant off the ground, ready to run—

And saw a brightly colored bird poke its head between the branches. It chirruped, oblivious to his panic.

He sagged against the torn-up trunk, closing his eyes and taking a long breath. He needed to calm down. The Pendant was safe, there was nobody _here_. Just him and a bird and half a dozen decimated trees.

Nothing to worry about, right?

He opened his eyes and gathered the rest of his things. Time to get a move on.

Yugi gave the graveyard of trees a wide berth as he continued on, walking around the carnage on the very edge of the treeline. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he needed to avoid it. Still, he couldn’t help but watch it out of the corner of his eye, as if whatever did it would appear out of thin air to continue its havoc.

Then he saw what was on the other side of the clearing, previously blocked by the fallen trees, and nearly fell to his knees.

There were gouges in the dirt, longer than a full-grown man and half as deep. Four of them. He recognized the pattern from watching Tristan’s hunting hawks – the marks they left behind from their talons were the same as these. But much smaller. Unless he was horribly mistaken (and he hoped he was), the thing that had torn up this forest was _alive_, and whatever it was, it could _fly_.

So. Something big, with claws, that could fly, and tear up a forest effortlessly?

Yugi wasn’t sure what to make of it all. If the pieces slotting together in his mind were even logical. But he did know one thing:

It was time to move. _Quickly_.

He spun on his heel and dashed in the opposite direction of the gouges, the trees, and hopefully whatever had made them.

The sun had returned to make his life more difficult and hotter. Mere minutes after his frantic escape, he had to slow down. Not _stop_ – no, he didn’t think he was _able_ to stop. Every breath he took was jittery, his hands gripped their respective bags so tight he felt his fingers stiffen and cramp, every step he took was propelled forward by what he imagined a rabbit might feel when it saw the signs of a wolf.

Saw and _heard_, because he could have sworn the trees behind him were rustling at too steady a pace to be coincidence. They grew closer together now, creating a thick canopy that hardly let in the sun, so he’d assumed it was only an animal. But…

He started counting his steps and the sounds that followed them – _One-two-three-four_-_rustle. One-two-three-four_-_rustle. One-two-three-four_-_rustle._ Like clockwork.

He thought of the bird back in the clearing and glanced into the close-knit trees, scanning every detail of the tangled branches he passed at his anxious pace. He didn’t see anything. But it could still be nothing – it could be the _wind_. There was a _huge_ chance it was nothing, just nerves, just— _nothing_. It was nothing.

He wanted to believe it was nothing.

Still counting his steps, he continued with ears straining for any kind of unnatural noise. Breathing, footsteps, the snap of a twig. He wished for his dagger, wherever it was.

And then the rustling stopped.

Yugi counted twelve steps without any sort of interruption. He didn’t dare stop to find out what the mystery was, but he allowed his tense muscles to release. He even slowed up his pace, shoulders sagging as he sighed. He was safe again. Hopefully he’d stay that way for as long as it took him to get out of this place.

Into the trees he persisted, and despite the lack of light from the sun, the heat was no less intense. The cloak full of cat meat was uncomfortably heavy, and alternating arm with the one that kept the Pendant could only help for so long. He could use a break, not that he could afford one.

The gurgle of a stream caught his tired attention, clear water skipping merrily over stones and sticks. His steady pace slowed to a reluctant stop. _Water…_

He wrestled with the desire for rest and the need to keep moving for only a moment before dropping his haul and settling down next to the stream himself. He ran his hands through the current, rinsing them of the dirt and grime he’d accumulated over the past several days. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

He cupped the water in his hands and drank, crisp and just cold enough to take the edge off the heat. He let himself indulge in it, taking several more scoops to drink and one to wash his face. He ran his wet fingers through his hair, too, the closest thing he’d ever get to “clean,” until some hypothetical future. What he wouldn’t give for a _real_ bath.

He shook out his hands in the air, not wanting to dirty them back up again by wiping them on his clothes, glancing around the area. The stream flowed down from a small groove between two rocks in the distance – some source of mountain water, he guessed – and down through the forest between trees and ferns to where he sat, Tiny flowers he didn’t have names for bloomed in a handful of colors, attracting brightly colored insects and lizards to catch them. The trees and grasses were all vibrant shades of green, bright as spring.

“You know,” he said aloud, to nothing in particular, “when this place isn’t trying to kill me, it’s actually pretty nice.”

The babbling stream seemed to agree with him, and for once, it felt like everything was going to be—

_Crrrreak_.

—fine.

Yugi didn’t know what made that sound. He didn’t _care_ what made that sound. He inched his hand toward the Pendant in its bag, scanning the space around him, no longer held by its charm.

_Creeeak_.

That was the sound of wood. Of a branch, groaning under too much weight. There was something in the trees. Something _big_.

_Cr-THUMP_.

Yugi was already on his feet, Pendant pulled to his chest protectively, half-drawn from its bag. He scoured the trees, looking for something decent sized that would make a sound when falling. Or jumping.

A shadow whipped past his peripheral vision, and he whirled around to face it at its new destination. He took a cautious step back. Whatever this thing was, he didn’t want to startle it into chasing him.

From between the shadows of two large trunks, Yugi saw… something.

He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, really. It sat low to the ground, but its shoulders (?) weren’t bent up like one of those cats or a wolf. In fact, it was _small_, and he was sure he wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been looking for something.

Or, he _thought_ it was small.

As he stared, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at, the thing rose. It grew until it was as tall as Yugi was himself, with broad, round shoulders and a similar torso. Two massive horns reached from the top of its long skull, tapering to sharp points. Two pinpricks of red flashed in the semi-darkness. It moved closer and—

Yugi was already gone, snatching his cloak from the ground and racing as fast as his legs would carry him in any direction. _Away_ was the goal, _away_ from whatever that thing was.

It took him a while to realize he wasn’t being followed. When he leaned, panting, against a tree out of desperation for breath, and heard no pursuing rustling or footsteps, he nearly dropped.

A dozen questions swam through his mind, now that he gave himself time to think. What _was_ that thing? Why was it following him for so long, only to give up the chase as soon as it had him relaxed and with his guard down? Was it an animal? It certainly didn’t look like any animal he’d ever seen – even the six-legged cat had features recognizable enough to _be_ a cat. But it couldn’t have been a _person_, because the Wild Folk didn’t have horns, and they travelled in groups. They were _friendly_ to outsiders, too. And whatever that thing was, “friendly” was not the word for it.

He glanced back into the trees, just to be _sure_ he wasn’t followed. He thought about casting a detection spell, just to see if he was _really_ as safe as he thought, but restrained himself. It wasn’t worth it to use the Pendant for this… probably.

His air was back. He wasn’t being tracked. Time to move on.

He took two steps before he had to stop again, at the obvious sound of brush being shoved out of the way, and a frighteningly familiar voice demanding, “Whadda _mean_ you can’t use the _bleedin’_ Moss anymore?”

Yugi slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a gasp and pressed himself against the trunk of the nearest tree. He sunk down to foliage-level, ducking underneath a wide leaf. He stared straight ahead and listened intently to the voices behind the tree.

“I _mean_,” said a second voice, a little more refined than his companion, “that the residual magic will have worn off by now, this stuff’s as good as useless now. We’ll have to find him the old-fashioned way.”

_Shit, shit, shit!_ Yugi cursed. Of _course,_ The Golden Boys would have followed him out this far. And of course, they’d gotten Mage Moss too. Could this situation get _any_ worse?

“Couldn’t be too hard to find him, aye?” said a third person. Yugi’s insides crumbled at how young the poor boy sounded.

“That there depends,” said Uldan Jarrut, because there was no way the first man could be anyone else.

“On what?”

“On how long th’ rat can keep runnin’ on his own.”

“And,” interjected the second man, “on how much longer we can afford to be wandering the woods for.”

Uldan barked his amusement. “Ha! The bloke hirin’ us has pockets deeper than the Wicked Halls!”

The situation had just gotten worse.

“That doesn’t mean he’ll keep _paying us_ if we take too long to find his charge.”

“But what about the bounty?” asked the kid. “It’s gotten up to ten thousand white crowns now, hasn’t it?”

Yugi couldn’t help but mouth a shocked _Ten thousand white crowns? _To the Halls with the Pendant – he’d turn _himself_ in for that kind of money if he thought he could get away with it.

“And our beloved client has offered _triple_ that,” said the second man, and Yugi could feel his stomach twist in fear at the same time his ego grew three sizes. Someone offering that kind of money must have wanted the Pendant _badly_. “Not to mention he’s been providing our week’s supplies.”

“Wow,” said the kid, amazed. “Who has that much coin to throw at this?”

“The Master o’ the White is who,” Uldan said, and Yugi could almost see him puffing out his chest. “The man himself came into town the week the news got out about that Item bein’ made off with. Talked with him meself.”

Yugi narrowed his eyes. He didn’t “make off with” the Pendant.

“Really?”

“Aye.”

“Will you two _shut it_? They can probably hear you back at the campsite, Gods above.”

“Sorry,” mumbled the kid. Uldan didn’t say anything, and their voices were replaced by the crunch of leaves and thwacking of branches.

Yugi was left reeling in the semi-silence. A _campsite_? How many of them were there? The Golden Boys had an extensive network of unsavory activities to keep running, so it couldn’t have been _too_ many. But enough for a camp was more trouble than he could deal with on his own.

He desperately wanted to get out of here, but couldn’t risk moving without being heard. He was just going to have to wait for them to move farther out. Or for another one of those giant purple cats.

Every muscle in his body tensed as a set of boots came into his field of view. Then a second, then a third. He didn’t breathe, he didn’t blink, his heartbeat stalled. They tromped right in front of him, oblivious to his place under the ferns and grasses.

Just in case, Yugi reached inside the burlap pouch, thumbing the edge of the golden pyramid inside. The only thing that mattered was saving the Pendant. If he had to, he’d just run. But if worse came to worst, he’d show The Golden Boys _why_ he was worth ten thousand white crowns – or more.

The Pendant hummed in the back of his mind. At least they were on the same page for once.

The third set of boots, smaller than the other two, suddenly tripped over a root that protruded from its parent tree. He thudded into the back of the man in front of him, and something flew from his belt—

“Obelisk’s balls, Habrel, watch where you’re _going_.” 

And landed on the ground, a single tree away from Yugi. A little pouch, with something white dusted around the edge of the opening. He stared at it so intently he was surprised it didn’t catch fire.

“Sorry! Sorry, I tripped over something—”

“Gods, and now the Moss is gone.”

“I’ll find it!”

Yugi watched in horror as the young member of The Golden Boys dropped down to the dirt to start looking. _Don’t find it, don’t find it, don’t find it_—

“Found it, Brio!”

Habrel turned out to be a very earnest looking, tan-faced boy. Yugi knew this because he suddenly appeared, bursting through the leaves and ferns to snatch the bag of Mage Moss. Their eyes locked. He froze.

Yugi very slowly shook his head, eyes wide and warning. He _wanted_ to tell him to run as far from The Golden Boys as he could, but he wasn’t sure his coworkers would have appreciated that very much.

Habrel half opened his mouth, but he was interrupted before he could even speak.

“What’s the hold up, boy?” said the second man – Brio?

He glanced up, then back down. “Uh…”

Yugi shook his head again. _Come on, kid_, he willed. _I _know_ you’re better than this_.

“Do you have the Moss or not?”

Habrel looked frantically between Yugi and Brio, the war on his face plain as day. Yugi never took his eyes off him, but he carefully reached his hand deeper into the pouch for the Pendant—

“Mutou’s here!” Habrel blurted. “I found him, he’s here!”

They jumped up at the same time, Habrel pointing right at Yugi as he whipped the burlap sack away, gripping the Pendant with both hands. Three faces greeted him, all in different states of shock.

“Good afternoon,” he said, already backing up. He reached into his Well and the world went blue. “Fancy meeting you fellas out here.”

Uldan shoved his companions out of the way, lunging forward. “Don’t just stand there – get him!”

Yugi brought one hand up in a “stop” motion, and a shockwave burst from his flaming palm. It sent Uldan flying into Brio and Habrel, knocking all three into a pile of writhing limbs and gasps. Yugi took off in the opposite direction, sprinting as fast as his legs would let him run, distant cries of _You idiots! _and _Get off of me!_ chasing him through the trees.

He leapt over logs and rocks in his way, not even having to turn around to know he was being chased. The magic was still coursing through his veins, giving him the energy he needed to keep running, keep running, _keep running_. He ducked under branches with catlike reflexes, recovered from his few stumbles in record time, his feet hardly touching the ground.

There was a mechanical _chnk_, and something whizzed toward his head. He swerved away, wincing at the sharp prick of pain on the edge of his ear. He hardly had time to recover before he heard another _chnk_ and another object shot past, embedding itself in a nearby tree. He watched the wooden shaft of a crossbow bolt quiver in the trunk as he ran.

“You should be careful with those,” he shouted over his shoulder, and tapped into the power of the Pendant. “Someone might get hurt.”

The Item had its own Well, an artificially created source of magical energy. That’s why it needed to feed itself – feed off _him_. Every time he used it to cast a powerful spell, it got a little stronger. But his life was in danger, so he figured it was worth the risk.

The Pendant glowed white hot and the world slowed. Yugi felt like he was moving through molasses, but he knew he was running just as fast. Nothing about the world had changed; _he_ had changed.

Another bolt hovered in the air, crawling toward him at a snail’s pace. He snatched it with one and hand hurled it back at his pursuers. It didn’t even seem to move.

Yugi released the magic and the world rushed back to normal. A _whrr_ followed by an anguished howl told him his plan had worked.

“Fucker!” cried Brio’s voice. “You’ll pay for that, you slimy—”

Uldan’s growl cut him off, “Gimme that _blasted_ thing.”

The crossbow clicked and another bolt shot past Yugi, grazing his upper arm. He cursed, but never let up his pace, even as he felt hot blood leak through his cut sleeve and drip off his elbow. He’d give The Golden Boys props for persistence; not very many people kept chasing him after knowing he could throw their projectiles back at them. They were braver than most. Or stupid.

The rattle of a dozen branches being shaken at once erupted from the nearby brush. Yugi risked glancing at his side, narrowly dodging another bolt. He tripped over his own feet with a start, righting himself barely in time to keep running.

That _thing_ was running alongside him, horns and strange body keeping to the shadows, and even with his magic-enhanced vision he couldn’t make out any significant details. It kept pace with him – it even looked like it was holding back – alternating between what he _assumed_ was all fours and on two legs, growing and shrinking seemingly at will. It bounded off trees, swung from branches, and hit the ground running with grace. Every time it jumped its body swelled and relaxed like wind under a cloak.

_Is it going to help me_? Yugi wondered. _Does it even know what I _am? He almost wanted to reach out with his mind to see if it was trustworthy, but he had enough to worry about without trying to have a conversation with something that might not even have the capacity to talk back.

_Chnk!_

The crossbow fired, and Yugi snarled as the bolt dug into his calf. Pain like fire shot up his leg as he ran, throbbing and wet with blood. His grip on his magic flickered, the world flashing in and out of cyan as he struggled to concentrate.

Another bolt fired, scraping along his side. He grit his teeth pushed on, fueled by pure adrenaline. The Pendant had gone nearly dormant. The energy spent from magic usage was starting to leak through to his mind.

He glanced to the shadows of the trees. The strange creature that had been following him made no move to help.

He was on his own.

With a sickening _thunk_, the crossbow fired a bolt right into his shoulder. He cried out, in pain and desperation, as his arm convulsed and the Pendant dropped to the ground. He collapsed soon after it, landing hard on his stomach. Needless to say, he’d lost hold of his magic. He saw stars in his eyes, muscles screaming at the bolts shoved through his skin. He felt dizzy, his mind swam, but _where was the Pendant_?

Yugi tried to sit up to look for it, to keep going, but a heavy boot suddenly stepped on his back and ground into his spine.

“You’s a wily one,” Uldan mocked, but Yugi hardly heard him, “I’ll give you that.”

“Just take him out already,” Brio growled.

“Right, fine. Just wanted t’ savor the moment a bit.” He whistled sharply. “Oi, Habrel! Get the Item.”

“O-okay…”

Yugi tried to push against the weight again, but he could hardly see, much less fight back.

“_Still _goin’?” Uldan laughed. “Divines wasted a blessin’ on you, Yugi Mutou.”

Habrel’s small boots enveloped his vision. He glanced as high as he could and saw a flash of gold. “Here. Got it.”

“Fantastic.” The gold passed to Uldan. _The Pendant…_

The shadows in the trees moved. He saw two pinpricks of red.

“Can we _please_ get a move on?” Brio complained again.

“We move on when _I_ say we move on! In any case—”

Yugi felt the boot on his back release, and Uldan crouched down in front of him, blocking the trees. He waggled the Pendant in one hand triumphantly. “Say goodnight, mage-y.”

Something heavy dropped on the back of his head, and the world disappeared to blackness.

Dark. Dark and cold.

Those were the two sensations Yugi came to bearings with first. The next was the taste of copper and leather, then the smell of dirt, then a throbbing in the back of his head. He blinked his eyes open, but continued to see only darkness.

Slowly, the rest of his feeling came back to him. Wrapped tightly around his eyes was a piece of scratchy fabric, and the sour taste was explained by a strip of leather choking back his tongue. The places where the crossbow bolts had been were empty, but the wounds still ached and stung. He tried to move around, but his wrists were locked together with a strong rope behind his back. His legs were similarly bound at the ankles.

_Fantastic_, was his first coherent, and sarcastic, thought.

His second was much more serious, as an icy hand gripped his heart: _Where’s the Pendant_?

Like a wild horse, Yugi tugged at his restraints and made a poor attempt at dragging his body to a sitting position, writhing on the ground and not getting very far at all. He heard shuffling and mocking laughter.

“Oi, Boss!” said a voice, high pitched and grating. “The runt’s awake.”

“Perfect,” Uldan said, calling as if he was far away. “Bring him over, boys. Make him feel at home.”

Yugi did not like the sound of that.

He was only halfway through his first muffled curse before two sets of hands yanked him up by his arms. The wound in his shoulder screamed as they hauled him to his feet, and he ground down on the leather strap in his mouth to suffocate his pained groan. He was pretty sure it had started bleeding again.

The “boys” on either side of him snickered, and dragged him across the ground. “Don’t bother complaining,” said the high-pitched voice again, on his right. “We could have left the bolts _in_ and made this much worse for you.”

“Yeah,” agreed the man on his left. “Show a little gratitude.”

Yugi planned to do no such thing, but he kept his involuntary noises to himself as best he could. He wanted to _survive_ this encounter long enough to get the Pendant back. Or at least prevent these idiots from taking it back to the Master of the White.

He was unceremoniously dropped to the ground again, landing heavy on his knees. He bit down _hard _on his gag as he put all his weight on the wound in his calf. He couldn’t help the pained tears that sprung to his eyes, and was suddenly glad for the blindfold.

The area was warmer here, the familiar heat of a campfire blistering against his dirty clothes through to his skin. It wasn’t as comforting as it otherwise would have been.

“Nice o’ you t’ finally join us,” Uldan said, much closer now. He snapped his fingers – or Yugi _assumed_ he snapped his fingers – and the blindfold was ripped off without warning.

Blearily, he took in the fire, flickering hotly in the night air. But even in the dark, he saw where they were – still in the forest, in a clearing surrounded by trees. None of them were torn up, from what he could see, but he also had more important things to worry about.

The first thing he did after blinking profusely was glower at Uldan from where he sat on the other end of the fire. The leader of The Golden Boys, barrel-chested and covered head to toe in grisly scars, had been part the reason he’d gotten chased out of the City of Gold in the first place. The remaining part had been the “anonymous” tip someone had given half the guards in the city, and Yugi had more than half a mind to think it was intentional. And from the way Uldan was smiling right now, he’d bet his own bounty on it.

The gang leader tsked, shaking his head. “That’s not very polite, now, is it? I invite you out here, sit you down with all my boys—” he gestured around the campsite. Yugi didn’t bother following his gaze. “—and you _glare_ at me?”

On either side of Yugi, two people sat down. He assumed they were the two that had hauled him from his original spot – a man built like a tree trunk, and an athletic looking man. That was three in front of him so far, he knew there were at least two others somewhere, so how many people did The Golden Boys _actually_ bring with them?

“I’m sure you know,” Uldan continued, “why I’ve sent some of my best people out to find you.”

Yugi stared blankly ahead, hardly paying attention. He retreated his focus into his head and cast out a cautious line with his consciousness, like a fisherman not wishing to scare his dinner. One of the perks of being a mage was the ability to reach out with his mind to communicate with other things – or attack them. He didn’t even need to use his Well to do it, which meant the lack of Pendant at his side was irrelevant. And he doubted The Golden Boys knew that.

As Uldan continued to rant about how much time and effort he put into this expedition, Yugi was brushing imperceptibly against the minds of the people he noticed in the area. Two at his side, one in front of him, another three huddled farther away, one lingering nearby, and one faintly glowing consciousness just on the edge of his reach. Eight total.

He was vastly outnumbered. Time to play it safe.

Yugi reeled himself back into the “conversation” at the perfect time, zoning back in to hear Uldan say, “—and we only need you _alive_ for as long as you’re useful to us. Got it?” He nodded. “Good.”

Uldan whistled sharply through his teeth, twice, like he was calling a dog. Yugi felt rather than saw two of the blips on his radar approach their campsite.

When they finally did come into view, he recognized one of them as Habrel. The boy was carrying the Pendant, holding it as if it might come to life and bite him, and was pointedly staring at anywhere except Yugi. He handed it off to Uldan and retreated just as quickly.

The second man was waif-thin and limping on a peg leg. Yugi caught his eyes, an unnatural pale blue, and watched him carefully as he took his place behind Uldan. Despite looking like he was going to drop dead at any moment, he was standing tall with his arms crossed over his chest.

“This,” said Uldan, pointing up at the man, “is Tammy. Say hello, Tam.”

Yugi instantly felt a push against his mind, something beating against his barriers with inexpert blows. It took him a few seconds to recover from the surprise attack, but he brushed away the assault easily. It retreated back into its owner’s mind, and as Yugi followed the thread it left behind, he realized it was _Tammy_. They had a mage.

“Poor bloke don’t talk much,” Uldan commented. “His Manifest blew off his leg and made him blind as a bat. Dodged the Tower, though, lucky bastard.”

Yugi’s eyes widened. That was the least “lucky” circumstance he’d ever heard in his _life_. No wonder Tammy was so thin – with a Manifest _that_ powerful, he was probably being eaten alive by his own magic. Without Domino Tower, he would be untrained, unable to manage his Well efficiently. Yugi almost felt bad.

Uldan seemed to take his expression as an admittance of defeat. “So you aren’t the _only_ mage in town, got it? We can match you stroke for stroke.” Yugi held back a snort. “And that’s why you’re gonna help us out.”

The gang leader proffered the Pendant in his hand, raising it up to Tammy. He took it. Uldan pointed at Yugi. “_You_ are gonna teach him how t’ use this thing.”

He blinked. _That’s_ why they kept him alive? They were even bigger idiots than he thought!

Before Yugi could get a hold of himself, he was laughing. He snorted around the leather strap and through the jolt in his arm as his shoulders shook. It was just _too_ good.

Around the campfire, the expressions ranged from confused to concerned to outraged.

“What’s so funny?” Uldan demanded.

He couldn’t very well answer while he was still gagged, so he just kept laughing. The thugs on either side of him exchanged worried glances.

“Get th’ Gods-dammed gag offa him.”

Yugi was roughly forced to sit up straight, as the thicker man untied the strap between his teeth. The second it was out, Yugi worked his jaw in a circle, his exercise interrupted sporadically by fading giggles.

“Well?” Uldan growled. “Out with it!”

He shrugged. “I can’t teach him anything.”

“Bullshit.”

Yugi, now significantly more confident, raised an eyebrow. “Tammy, reach out to the Pendant with your mind, please.”

Tammy looked down at Uldan with a sightless gaze. The leader huffed. “Do as he says.”

Now having to bite his tongue to keep a smile off his face, Yugi watched as Tammy closed his eyes. Only three seconds elapsed before he made a strangled squeal and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Everyone around the campfire jumped to their feet in shock, shouting, cursing, calling his name. Everyone except Yugi, of course.

“Huh,” he mused. “Lasted longer than I thought he would.”

“What in the _Wicked Halls_ did you _do_ to ‘im?” Uldan roared.

“_I_ didn’t do anything,” Yugi explained. “The Pendant chooses who can use it and rejects everyone who can’t.”

“You’re bluffing!”

“You want to ask your _mage_ if I’m bluffing?”

Uldan growled like a caged animal. “Tell us how to work it!”

“Even if I told you, there’s no way you could ever make use of it. I’m the _only_ person who can control the Pendant, and if you value your life, you’ll believe me.”

He stalked around the fire and lifted Yugi up by the front of his shirt, enraged and scowling. “And why in the _blazes_ should I believe anything you say?”

“Because if you take the Pendant from me, it’ll be free to do whatever it wants. And it’ll be a lot worse than knocking out your mage for a few hours.”

“Fuck you.”

“How much do you know about magic? _Really_, how much?”

“None of your _Gods-damned business_ is how much.”

Yugi rolled his eyes. “So, next to nothing, then?”

A fist collided with his stomach and he wheezed. Uldan shook him violently by the collar. ”Don’t you _fucking_ dare—” he swung a right hook into Yugi’s face “—insult me, mage-y.”

“It took,” Yugi coughed, “all the other Keepers in the Tower. To keep the Pendant under control. Before I showed up.”

He was dropped back onto the ground and spat on, the gang leader standing above him like an enraged pillar. “I should’ve killed you in the forest.”

Yugi stared right back up at him, ignoring the pain to match the angry gaze. “Go ahead. Kill me now. See what the Pendant does when I’m gone.”

For a moment, Uldan looked like he just might take that bet. But his eyes were pulled back to the Pendant, lying dormant next to Tammy’s body. That single act of hesitation was all Yugi needed to know he was safe.

“Boys,” Uldan ground out, “come with me.”

“What about Tam?” asked the athletic man, the owner of the grating voice, Yugi discovered.

The gang leader was already stalking away to a second campfire. “Leave ‘im. Habrel! Watch the damn mage.”

The guards as Yugi’s side scampered off behind their leader, and were soon replaced by a nervous boy half his age. He huffed – some “intimidation.” Or they just really didn’t care what happened to Habrel. He worked his jaw again, licking away a bit of blood on his lip.

“D-don’t try anything,” the boy stammered, pulling a knife out of his belt and gripping it tight. A very _familiar_ looking knife.

“Where did you get that?” he asked, nodding at the blade.

Habrel looked away. “Found it.”

“In the forest?”

“Maybe.”

Yugi sighed. “How old are you, Habrel?”

He flinched. “Twelve.”

_Gods above, _he thought. His dagger was in the hands of a kid hardly old enough to work a plow by himself. “And you’re already running with The Golden Boys?”

“Aye. What’s it matter?”

“What about your family?”

“Haven’t got one.”

Every word that came out of Habrel’s mouth made Yugi feel worse. “Well, I’ll ask Slifer’s guidance for you.”

The kid snorted. “The Divines aren’t real.”

“I’ll hope you get in a better situation, then.”

He straightened up defensively. “What’s so bad about this one?”

Yugi raised his eyebrows. “They left you alone with me.”

“It means they trust me.”

“It means they think you’re expendable.”

“N-no they don’t!” He moved the knife a little closer, nearly poking at Yugi’s arm. He leaned out of the way effortlessly.

“Habrel, if I wanted to, I could drop you right now.” The kid paled and he quickly added, “I _don’t_ want to. But it’d be hardly two minutes, then you’d be on the ground and I’d be free.”

He wasn’t even exaggerating. Habrel wouldn’t have nearly the skill or knowledge required to build strong mental barriers. It would be child’s play to wrestle his mind into submission and then into unconsciousness. He wasn’t _going_ to. But it would be far too easy.

“Look,” he continued, “there are _better things_ out there than this. You don’t have to be a criminal to survive.”

“What about you, then?”

“What?”

“You’re a criminal. You stole the Pendant.”

If Yugi had use of his hands, he would have dragged them down his face. “I _didn’t_ steal the Pendant.”

“I heard you back there. If you’re the only one who can control it, why did you leave the Tower at all?”

He smiled. No one he encountered had ever put those pieces together. “Smart kid.”

Habrel brightened, the happiest Yugi had ever seen him. “Come on, are you gonna tell me?”

The wind picked up, whipping the fire around into a big, burning spiral. Yugi stared into it and… remembered. “The Tower was attacked,” he said, quiet. “My only choices were to run or die.”

Even stronger now, the gale pushed all the leaves on the trees to one side. Yugi’s hair was thrown all around his face, tousled and tangled. He heard something in the distance, something like a heartbeat or a drum. This… wasn’t right.

He was pulled out of his head when Habrel asked, “Attacked? By who?”

“Not ‘who,’” he corrected. “By _what_.”

“What was—”

“Oi!”

Habrel jumped to his feet at Uldan’s returning voice. Yugi startled too, but not because of Uldan. But because he’d heard this noise before. The almost-heartbeat.

_Fwoom. Fwoom. Fwoom_.

Consistent. Perfectly timed.

“Here’s what we’re gonna do, mage-y,” Uldan said, either not noticing or not caring about the wind. “You’re gonna come with us back to— What in th’ _name_ of the Divines are you doing?”

Yugi was craning his neck all around, searching the sky, looking for a shadow on the moon or the stars. It couldn’t be a coincidence, it just _couldn’t_ be—

“Are you fuckin’ listenin’ to me, Mutou?”

“We need to get out of here,” he said, dead serious.

“What the fuck are you on about?”

“We _need_ to get out of here, right now.”

He laughed, but it was hardly audible now. “Scared of a little wind?”

“That’s not _wind_, it’s a—”

He never finished his thought, because one of The Golden Boys finished it for him:

“_DRAGON!_”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys have no idea how much i wanted to put the dragon in earlier, but i held back for the Tension And Mystery


	3. Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE COME SOME FUCKIN DRAGONS Y'ALL

It was pandemonium.

The ground shook like an earthquake as the dragon landed, and a skull-splitting roar tore the night’s silence wide open. The campfires were extinguished like they were no more than candles, the great wings of the beast propelling an unnaturally strong wind. The members of The Golden Boys scattered, diving for the trees or for weapons, shouting in desperation and fear.

Yugi could hardly hear anything over the violent ringing in his ears, but he had enough common sense to throw himself to the ground toward the snuffed fire and roll onto his side to see what was going on. And he paled.

Even in pitch darkness, it would have been impossible to miss the dragon. It was massive – the size of a house and then some – with gleaming, bone-white scales like it was made of platinum. Thick scales folded over each other like pieces of armor, as if the dragon’s body was made of plate mail. Its jaw hung open in a silent show of dominance, flashing teeth as sharp as swords and four times as thick. Two leathery wings erupted from its back, four legs with four wicked claws each protruding from its feet. A tail with a spear-like barb thrashed at its back, whipping like an angry snake.

Then, piercing blue eyes with razor thin pupils locked to his petrified body and Yugi knew:

It was the same dragon that attacked Domino Tower. And it recognized him.

The dragon roared again, challenging anything stupid enough to get within range. It folded its wings to its sides, and Yugi blinked at a dark shape sliding down the massive body, before leaping away into the trees.

He couldn’t focus on it for long, because several of his captors decided they were the things that were stupid enough. Several crossbow bolts bounced harmlessly off the dragon’s metallic body, and it whipped its gigantic head around to face its feeble attackers.

Yugi took the opportunity to shuffle backwards toward the ashes of the campfire, wriggling like a worm in a desperate attempt to free himself of his bonds. The knots in the ropes around his wrists and ankles were tight and only getting tighter the more he struggled. He glanced to where the Pendant still sat, Tammy unconscious at its side. _Don’t_ _wake up_, he prayed.

An explosion of light and cries of terror jerked his focus ahead. The dragon scorched the clearing with red hot fire streaming from its jaws, the flickering flames bouncing off its iridescent scales. It lashed its head around in a near perfect circle, kindling the treeline and preventing any escapes. Dark smoke and the smell of burning wood and flesh curled into the night sky, the flames making it as bright as if it were day. Yugi saw screaming, fleeing shadows in the shape of people through the inferno, waving their arms wildly as they burned.

The dragon snapped its jaw shut, cutting off the flames and the remaining smoke leaking out of its nostrils and gaps in its teeth. It whipped its tail through the burning carnage and caught one of its victims in the back, sending them flying through the air like little more than a doll.

Yugi rolled over the remains of the fire, the ashes still warm against his back. His head bounced against Tammy’s peg leg. The Pendant was so _close_.

Desperate, he reached out to it with his mind, casting out a line into the darkness. The Pendant latched onto him greedily, reaffirming the bond that they had maintained for years, and Yugi accepted the selfish thing without a second thought. He laughed in spite of himself – it was the first time they had ever been happy to see each other.

“Okay,” he muttered. “Now what?”

He tried to dip into his Well, but found the expected barrier between his reach and the depths of his power. He couldn’t use his magic without a focus – and the Pendant’s bond ensured that it was the only thing he could ever _use_ as a focus. Which meant he had to touch it. 

Like a caterpillar, Yugi inched his way to the golden pyramid, pushing off his uninjured shoulder and knees. The dragon continued to reign destruction down on The Golden Boys’ camp, roaring and thrashing and biting. It had forgotten him. For now.

After what felt like ages, Yugi had his nose pressed against one of the faces of the golden pyramid, warm from the heat of the fire that blazed around them. He closed his eyes and tapped into his magic, praying to the Divines and Wicked Gods alike that this would count.

He almost cried when the surface of the Well was open for the taking. He pressed his cheek deeper into the Pendant, and grabbed for his magic. When he opened his eyes again, the world was a familiar cyan.

Frantically, he got to work on the ropes. A bead of blue magic like sweat raced down his temple and dripped down one arm. The magic drop raced around the bindings in rapid circles, finding the knot and slipping between the folds in the rope, searching with invisible “hands.”. As long as he knew where the knot was, he could order it untied. Since he couldn’t see it, this was the next best thing. He used all his spare concentration to work the knot loose with that tiny drop, feeling out the rope with his mind.

The cyan suddenly flickered and it was all Yugi could do to mutter _What_? before he was thrown onto his back and pinned into the dirt. A knee pushed into his stomach and a skinny hand wrapped around his neck. He bared his teeth at the mage he’d thought was down for the count. Tammy snarled right back.

“Get _off_,” Yugi demanded, struggling against the fingers at his throat. Tammy only pushed harder, choking him against the ground.

The same inexpert blows as before started hammering on his mental barriers, but it was harder to fight off now that he had to fight a physical battle as well. He writhed under the pressure on his windpipe, kicking his bound legs uselessly, the fight in his mind not going much better.

He caught Tammy’s mind in a chokehold of his own, beating back the assault with practiced precision. A peg leg jammed into his crotch and ensured he lost his grip with a strangled squawk. Tammy was gaining on him in both respects now, the walls around his mind harder and harder to maintain.

It was difficult to breathe. Yugi saw white spots in his vision. His breath was short, he was panting, his weak struggles were only getting weaker.

“Get off of him!”

With a grunt, Tammy was tackled to the ground. Yugi gasped as his throat was released, coughing and sputtering. He blinked his hazy eyes at where his attacker had been thrown off and saw—

“Habrel, what are you _doing_?” Yugi cried, hoarse.

The boy held the stolen dagger above Tammy’s head, straddling the mage with a ferocious look in his eyes, emphasized by the blazing trees around them. The only thing holding him back was the mage’s hands around his wrists. “Do it now, Yugi, come on!” he ordered.

Not wanting to waste any time, Yugi dove back into his mind and pounced on Tammy, ducking under his distracted barriers, parrying his unfocused attacks. He grabbed hold of the mage’s mind and stamped on its will, dominating it completely.

_Sleep_, he commanded, and the mind went blank.

In the physical world, Tammy had returned to unconsciousness, eyes closed and jaw slack. Habrel sagged, putting the knife down, but Yugi wouldn’t allow himself to relax just yet.

“A little help?” he asked, rolling back into his stomach. His head hit the Pendant.

Habrel jumped off his downed target. “Right! Helping.”

Yugi struggled to his knees and it wasn’t long before he heard the sawing of metal against rope, and a satisfying _snap!_ as his wrists were released. He scooped the Pendant into his arms instantly, cradling it like a baby.

“Thank you,” he said, as genuine as possible. He shuffled around to face the boy who freed him.

Habrel was smeared in ashes, his clothes were singed, but he still looked proud of himself. “Don’t thank me yet, I’ve got to undo your legs still.”

Yugi shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine. You have to get out of here.”

“What? No way, I’m not leaving you.”

“I’ll be _fine_, Habrel, just go.”

“How?”

Yugi reached into the depths of his Well, the world returning to blue. He picked out the closest area of burning brush and shoved the Pendant toward it. A swirling wave of blue energy swept through the air and cut through the flame.

“That won’t last forever,” he warned, still holding the spell. “You have to go now.”

Habrel looked between him and the exit, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “But—”

“_Go_. And take that knife. You’ll need it more than I do.”

The boy looked down at the blade and nodded resolutely. Yugi watched him sprint into the trees, making sure he was completely gone before cutting his magic off, watching the flames creep back in again. He got to work on his ankle bindings next, reaching back in—

Through the flaming trees burst a dark shape. Leaping out of the shadows and into the light of the fire, it landed right in front of Yugi in a low crouch, splattered in blood. He recoiled, struggling back as he recognized what it was: it was the creature from the shadows, the one that had been stalking him and it was…

A person?

The odd shape he’d seen was created by the dragon skull they wore over their face, and a full-body cloak made of dragon scales in dozens and dozens of colors. From the folds in the front of the elaborate piece, he saw two dark-skinned, human-shaped arms, the left hand with a half-glove sporting wicked looking dragon claws on the end of each finger.

“Hello,” Yugi said, watching the newcomer carefully. “Are you… going to help me?”

They didn’t say anything. The dragon skull tilted, as if in question. Two pinpricks of red flashed in the empty eye sockets.

Yugi tried again. “Hello?”

The stranger crept forward on all fours, keeping their crouched position. Something crimson swept the ground behind them, dragging over the grass. Yugi glanced over the person’s shoulder and blinked, convinced he’d hit his head too hard. Was that… what he thought it was?

He didn’t have time to ask, because the clawed hand suddenly grabbed his face and his mind was under a ferocious assault.

Yugi struggled to throw up new mental barriers, the walls he always had up easily dispatched by the stranger. The next ones he put up were thrown down almost instantly, and the next, and the next. The stranger didn’t stop, tearing through his defenses like dried leaves. They shoved aside every attack he threw out, only stopping in their tracks to throw him out of their way. They stalked through his mind effortlessly, taking no interest in subduing his free will, probably because they knew they didn’t need to. 

This stranger was an exceptionally powerful mage, and Yugi was at their mercy.

And yet, the attacking mind was completely alien in nature. It didn’t have the personality that other humans had – it was more like an _animal_ in behavior. It had no point of attack, no calculated plan, it didn’t even seem to have a _goal_. it just tore and beat and dug its claws into Yugi’s mind with abandon, wearing him out, hanging him up to dry.

They climbed to the very back of his mind, and Yugi gave up trying to stop them. He let the stranger lay waste to his consciousness, just hoping it would be over soon. He couldn’t even focus on the outside world, singularly focused on keeping his mind in enough pieces to have some sanity left over.

The more the stranger searched, the more Yugi realized they were sifting through his memories. Flashes of times gone by appeared behind his eyes and disappeared just as quickly as the attacker discarded them. Memories from the previous day, week, month, _year_—

They stalled heavily on his trials with the Pendant. The tests he underwent to earn himself worthy of being its Keeper, nearly a dozen years ago.

And one memory in particular played out in full.

_“Again.”_

_Yugi was drenched in sweat. Everything hurt. He was exhausted. He couldn’t keep this up much longer._

_“Do it again, Yugi.”_

_He resisted the urge to glare at the Keeper of the Key, Solomon, and the master of his apprenticeship at Domino Tower. He was tired and angry and he didn’t _want_ to do this anymore. But the other six Keepers were watching as well, so he did as he was told without complaint. _

_Yugi reached back into Well, the depth of which he had only just begun to maintain, and pulled the magic out. He approached the Pendant with softly glowing hands, the Item sitting on a raised altar in the center of the circular room. That room was the Item Chambers at the very top of the Tower – the only place it was safe to hold the tests, and the only place it was safe to keep the Pendant._

_He reached out to the Pendant physically and mentally, the magic sparking between his fingertips in an almost-flame. He called to it with his mind, trying to coax it out of its shell – _Pendant, I am your Keeper. Pendant, I am your Keeper.

_The Pendant’s Eye glowed with white-hot magic, seeming to glare at him from where he stood. He brought more of his Well forward, digging deeper to create a swirling whirlpool of blue energy between his fingers. It was supposed to act as a shield, or so he was told. _Pendant, I am your Keeper.

_He was staring down at the Eye, now. His hands hovered just above it, the gold blurred by a mass of blue. _Pendant, I am your Keeper.

_“Take it,” said Solomon._

_Yugi hated this part._

_He took a breath, and gripped the Pendant like his life depended on it. In a way, it did._

_The moment his fingers touched the gold, he felt like he was being flayed alive. _

_His mind was on fire, his _skin_ was on fire, but he pushed through the agony to throw up a solid mental barrier and shove his mind forward. He had to touch the Pendant with his mind. That was how the bond was formed. He had to touch it. He had to latch himself on and never let go._

_For a moment, he brushed his consciousness against the Pendant. For a moment, he glimpsed the power, he felt the rush of energy. For a moment, he felt its personality, the strongest of the Items. For a moment, he believed he could actually do it._

_Then there was the sound like a kettle whistling and Yugi was blown back with the force of an explosion. His back skidded across the polished floor of the Item Chambers and he gasped like he was drowning._

_White. White. White. It was all he could see. His skin was burning, his blood was boiling, his mind, his _head_—_

_“Yugi. Yugi!”_

_His vision snapped back and he found himself staring at the ceiling at the entrance of the room, more than fifteen feet away from where the Pendant rested. He took a shuddering breath and fought the tears that threatened to spill over. _

_“Are you alright, Yugi?” Solomon was at his side, kneeling next to him on the cold marble floor. _

_“No,” he said, and his voice scratched in his throat. He didn’t take his eyes off the ceiling._

_The Keeper of the Key sighed. “It’s alright. Why don’t we call the trials for today?”_

_He couldn’t agree more. _

_Without another word, Yugi rolled over and stiffly pushed himself to his feet. He bowed at the waist toward Solomon, and then to the room at large. “Thank you for the opportunity,” he said. Like he always did. And like he would tomorrow._

_Yugi opened the intricate doors at the head of the Chamber, planning to make his way back to the dormitories and complain incessantly about the trials to Mana, but paused when he heard his name._

_“Yugi has been performing exceptionally well!” said Solomon, defensive. Yugi pressed his ear against the closed door._

_“He _has_ been better than most, but,” said the Keeper of the Eye, his voice haughty and matter of fact, “you have to admit, he’s tiring of the practice.”_

_“Many who come this far stay stuck at this level,” added the Keeper of the Necklace, gentler than her companion. “Yugi has advanced at a faster rate than many others, but it isn’t absurd to consider he just _isn’t_ meant to bond with the Pendant.”_

_Solomon spoke up again. “He’s _close_, I can feel it. He’s able to perform the trials one after the other, day after day – most students can hardly do one a week. Is that not a sign enough for you?”_

_Silence. Yugi almost walked away, but heard another voice._

_“A sign has nothing to do with it,” said the Keeper of the Rod, cold, as he always was. “If he isn’t ready, he isn’t ready.”_

_“Yugi has _potential—”

_“Can he use it properly? Solomon, his Manifest _killed_ a man, and nearly burnt down his entire village.” Yugi’s heart sank to his feet. He knew he couldn’t control his Manifest, but it still hurt. _

_The Keeper of the Rod continued, “You _do_ remember the last person with as bloody a Manifest as his who took these trials, don’t you?”_

_“Of course I do,” Solomon said, indignant._

_“And you remember what _happened_ to him?”_

_Another round of silence._

_Solomon spoke up, but he was uncertain. “He was unstable from the beginning, Set—”_

_“And that’s not an excuse. If Yugi is at all similar—”_

_The Keeper of the Necklace interrupted them both. “All we are saying,” she said, “is that it might be time to let him down _gently_, rather than let him burn himself out on this. He _does_ have potential, Solomon. And none of us want to see it go to waste.”_

_“I...I understand.”_

_“He gets another week,” she promised. “But no more.”_

As the memory faded out, the memories of the next week flashed before his eyes much faster – strengthening his resolve, dedicating hours of extra time to practice on his own, hardly taking breaks to sleep, and the final day of his final week when he finally caught the Pendant in a mental grapple and formed the bond that tied them together.

And it was finally over.

Yugi cried out as the stranger left his mind like an arrow being ripped out of his body, tearing at the walls of his mind with no care for the damage they left. He fell to one side, shaking and groaning, his hands colder than death, eyes rolled back in his skull. He scraped together the shattered pieces of his consciousness to try and find the will to fight back.

The Pendant rolled out of his lap and _thumped_ onto the grass, rolling shortly before stopping right in front of his face. In his haze, Yugi reached out for it only to flinch when he realized it was _glowing_. Glowing as if he’d activated it, and he could feel the heat radiating inches away from the surface of the gold. But he could hardly _sit up_, much less reach his Well, so what was…?

His eyes were drawn to the stranger, sitting completely still. Watching him. The red pricks behind the dragon skull flashed as they looked down at the glowing Item. The clawed hand reached out slowly.

“Don’t—” Yugi wheezed, but it was too late.

The stranger hardly brushed the pad of a finger across the edge of the Pendant before a pulsing wave of energy erupted from the Eye on its face. Yugi drew back his hands and groaned, the strain of the bond making his aching head worse_. _The stranger jumped back wildly with a beast-like growl, sitting back on their feet with their arms raised in a defensive position. Something thick and red thrashed back and forth from under the cloak, sweeping around to curl around their ankles.

Yugi stared at the shiny, scale-covered tail that he could have sworn he’d imagined.

“What,” he whispered, “_are_ you?”

The stranger ignored him to look up at something Yugi couldn’t see, dragon skull poking just high enough for him to see under the jaw. They had a neck – a _human_ neck. But they weren’t human – right?

The tip of the tail flicked back and forth like a cat’s, still wrapped defensively in front of them. It was lined up and down with triangle-shaped ridges. Definitely not a human.

The ground shook methodically, and even the light of the still-burning fires was overshadowed by a sudden darkness. Yugi was afraid to look up.

He didn’t end up having to, as an enormous white snout bent low over his body, slit pupils meeting his wide round ones for only a moment before it huffed, looking elsewhere. A lumpy shape hung heavy in its jaws, and the stranger watched carefully as the dragon dropped it carelessly on the grass in front of them.

Yugi curled the Pendant into his arms, eyes flicking wildly between the dragon, the stranger, and the lump. The... the bloody lump… that was moving…

The dragon nosed the lump over and it unfolded to reveal its prize.

_Gods above_, Yugi thought, wincing at the shredded form of Uldan Jarrut. He was covered in burns, painted in blood, and one of his legs appeared to have been bitten clean off. Somehow, he was still alive.

The stranger crawled over to the slightly twitching body, tail dragging behind. They climbed on top Uldan like a curious animal, ignoring or not caring about the blood and injuries. The bent low, as if sniffing him, occasionally looking up to the dragon before going back to… whatever they were doing.

Yugi saw one of Uldan’s hands move. The stranger didn’t.

The hand lashed out and slapped at the dragon skull, shoving it aside with more strength than it should rightfully have. Uldan shot to a sitting position, half the skin on his face flayed and his one remaining eye bulging like a madman. He wasted no time in lashing at the dragon skull again.

The stranger dodged the attack, ducking under the arm and pinning it back to the ground. Uldan roared and grabbed the skull with his other hand, sticking his fingers through the eye sockets and yanking it off.

The stranger shook their head – their _extremely human looking_ head, with thick, shaggy hair – free of the skull as it was tossed aside, and—

Yugi squeezed his eyes shut at the sound of Uldan screaming, the sickening sound of tearing flesh, a desperate gurgle, and then silence. He peeked through his lids a fraction to see the stranger spitting a hunk of something out of their mouth. A pool of red spread on the grass around Uldan’s head.

His body had stopped moving now.

The unmasked stranger hopped off the corpse and whipped their head around to Yugi again. He sucked in a breath.

The stranger was _almost_ a human. They had a _human_ face, dark skin with hair to match, a box-shaped jaw, a prominent nose in the center of their face. But their eyes were red like fire, cut with thin slits for pupils to match the dragon next to them. They snarled in his direction, chin dripping blood, and he saw red-stained teeth sharper than a human’s could ever be,

Yugi finally recovered his common sense and sat up on his knees, one hand holding the Pendant, the other working the ropes around his ankles. He didn’t want to risk using magic.

“Hold on,” he said, trying to look as harmless as possible. “Hold on, I’m not—I don’t want to hurt you.”

The red eyes narrowed, thin pupils shrinking even further. This wasn’t working.

“Look, I—I don’t know who you are or what you want. I barely even know where I _am_.”

The white dragon bent its head down again and Yugi stiffened. It met his eyes with one of its own. Its nostrils flared as it huffed, thin curls of smoke escaping into the night. Yugi swallowed and closed his eyes, preparing to be burned alive.

Instead, the ground shuddered beneath him, there was a burst of air, and suddenly he was being shoved roughly forward. He landed something tough and thick, a hide of some sort. He opened one eye to see something grayish white, with a thin protrusion shooting through it like a tendon. He opened his other eye.

Oh, this was bad.

He was lying on the wing of the dragon.

The stranger crouched next to him, dragon skull tucked under the cloak of scales and tail curled at their feet. Yugi pushed himself to sitting, using both hands to secure the Pendant, and ready to make a break for it as fast as his tied legs would let him.

He never got the chance.

The wing beneath them lifted up, up, _up_, effortlessly, as if neither of its passengers were present_. _The stranger had no problem managing the steep angle it rose to, crawling backward to control their slide. Yugi, on the other hand, yelped as he started slipping backward, tumbling over himself and rolling fast down the wing. He hugged the Pendant close to his chest and prayed he wouldn’t break his neck.

He landed face-down with a heavy _thunk_ on the dragon’s back, hard scales not breaking his fall in the slightest. The stranger slid gracefully to settle down behind him, red tail latching itself tightly around his already-bound legs. The hand with the clawed glove gripped his arm, the sharp ends digging into his skin. The Pendant poked painfully into his ribcage, but he didn’t dare move.

Yugi stared down the side of the silver dragon, and watched the muscles of the wing work as it pumped once, twice, three times—

The dragon pushed off the ground with a mighty heave, and they were airborne in seconds. Yugi clenched his entire body around the scaled torso, with no other way to hang on. His head hung over the side, and he watched the forest get smaller and smaller beneath them, soon the only thing left of the ground was the flare of the burning trees. The wings pumped methodically, tearing through the cold night chill. His stomach lurched.

Yugi was being kidnapped by a dragon. He was being _kidnapped_ by a _dragon…_ and a human-dragon-thing. He still wasn’t quite sure which one of those labels was the most accurate.

After a short few minutes in the air, the tail around his legs came loose as the human-dragon-thing in question crawled over his body. The dragon skull was covering their face again, and he watched them scamper up the dragon’s neck with ease, as if they were running on a flat surface instead of climbing up the body of a _moving, flying_ creature.

Yugi clutched himself tighter around the dragon’s body, his only hope of staying on the thing’s back now peeking over the sharp, horn-like crests around its head. He watched the red tail swipe back and forth through the air. What _was_ this person? Were they even a _person_?

The stranger slid down the dragon’s neck, smooth as they were on the wing. They crawled back to Yugi, stopping in front of him to stare. Probably. It was hard to make anything out through that skull.

“What do you want?” he asked.

They didn’t say anything. He was starting to think they didn’t understand him at all, but he didn’t have any other way to communicate, so he kept talking. “Where are you taking me?”

Nothing. The most the stranger did was look down at his ankles, still trapped by the ropes. They climbed back over him and sat down like before, tail securing his legs, clawed glove digging into the skin of his arm.

Yugi prodded at the Pendant with his mind, trying to gauge how worth it a big flashy spell would be, and was surprised to find the enchanted Item wasn’t faring much better than he was. For the first time since he’d bonded with it, the Pendant seemed to be _spent_ of its near-unlimited reservoir of power. Their bond was as strong as ever, but there was a sting that came along with the tug, like the aftermath of being slapped.

He remembered the stranger touching it – they must have reached out to it with their mind as well – and the pulse it sent out. But the Pendant could easily fend off _anything_. What was different about this time? And come to think of it, the Pendant had been activated _before_ the stranger paid it any attention at all. _Why_?

The more Yugi thought about it, the less it made sense. And the more he wanted to get off this dragon.

He could almost hear his grandfather’s voice telling him to be careful what he wished for when the dragon suddenly pulled back. Its wings caught the wind like curtains, leaving them suspended in the air for seconds before beating them gently, lowering out of the sky.

The dragon landed heavily, jostling its riders, and folded its wings at its sides. From Yugi’s awkward angle, he saw rock, a cliff edge, and mountains for as far as the eye could see. What he didn’t see was the ground, or even any trees. They were on a cliff, maybe a mountain shelf. And there was no way he could get down.

The dragon’s giant white head swung around to stare at its own back. It leaned in close and Yugi tried to curl in on himself, staring up fearfully at the beast.

It didn’t even glance at him. There was a small _click_ as the stranger craned their neck up to touch the cheek of their skull to the very end of the dragon’s snout. The icy blue eyes closed, and Yugi felt rather than heard the throaty rumble the dragon made, like thunder from miles and miles away. Or a cat purring.

He didn’t have time to consider the display. The stranger slid down the dragon’s side, the thick red tail dragging Yugi along with them. An undignified yelp escaped him as he slipped unbidden down the shiny, white scales, unable to scramble for purchase with the Pendant in his hands.

He hit the stone below flat on his back, all the air escaping his lungs in an instant. He gasped in an attempt to get it back, white spots appearing in his vision. The dragon snorted, and walked away with loud, earth-shaking steps.

A clattering off to the side drew Yugi’s gaze. The dragon skull sat upside-down on the stone, elaborate horns keeping it from rolling away. The stranger – startlingly human face revealed once again – tugged at the ropes around his ankles, their slitted eyes narrowed.

_Are they helping me_? he wondered. He decided to assume they were friendly. Even after being kidnapped.

“Here,” Yugi said, sitting up with a grunt. “I can do it.”

The stranger looked up at him only momentarily before return to their work. They gave up on using their hands and bent down to bite at the ropes instead.

Yugi blinked. “Uh, I can just use a spell to—”

He cut himself off as the ropes snapped apart. The stranger spit out a chunk of the bindings.

“Okay then.”

It didn’t take long before the ropes fell slack. Yugi curled his legs close, massaging his sore ankles and trying to work the feeling back into his feet.

“Thank you,” he told the stranger, genuine even if they couldn’t understand him.

The sentiment was lost on them, however, because the next thing the stranger did was pounce forward and grab his arm. Yugi scrambled for balance as they roughly hauled him to his feet, standing up themselves. There were several sickening, bony clicks as the stranger stood on two legs, like bones bring broken. Yugi almost asked if they were alright, but they only rolled their shoulders and started dragging him along behind them, the same direction the dragon had gone. The crimson tail hovered just inches off the ground, displacing the cape of scales. Yugi reminded himself this stranger wasn’t a human – and wouldn’t act like one, either.

The non-human stranger escorted him around a corner where the mountain shelf got significantly wider. Big enough for a dragon, maybe two. Yugi didn’t see an end in sight, either, the wide path winding around the mountain like a primitive staircase.

He was jerked to the side, almost colliding with the stone wall before he regained his balance. One armed, he tucked the Pendant close to his chest, and stared up into the maw of a giant cave.

It was beautiful in a sinister way. Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling like the teeth of some great beast. It was too dark to see the interior, but the air that escaped was bone-chilling. Yugi shivered, and tried not to whimper when he realized he was being taken _inside_ of it.

Two sets of footsteps echoed off the walls of the empty cave, the stranger’s bare feet scuffing against the stone and Yugi’s boot kicking rocks into the darkness every other step. He couldn’t see a thing, and was partly glad he had the stranger to haul him wherever they were going. The other part of him wanted to use the Pendant to light the way, but something told him that wasn’t a good idea. _Everything_ told him that wasn’t a good idea.

The longer they walked, the deeper the chill became, and the more Yugi wondered how far back the cave _went_. It felt more like a cave _system_, a labyrinth of rooms full of any number of traps. Or dead ends. Or dragons. He shivered again, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from fear.

He was debating stunning the stranger with a spell and making a break for it when a blue light appeared in the distance. It was small, but it grew exponentially as they walked, getting brighter and brighter. The stone was soon washed with it, turned opaque from the strength.

No… the light wasn’t turning the stone blue. The stone _was_ blue.

Yugi flinched as something cold and wet splashed on the back of his neck. He craned his neck at the stalactites above, and instead saw countless rows of massive icicles. Tiny drops of water slid down the sides and plopped onto the cave floor, and onto the heads of Yugi and the stranger.

The air was even colder now, and Yugi pulled down the rolled-up sleeves of his shirt – as if it would help. He silently wished for his cloak, sitting and rotting in the mud under some random tree in the forest. Light grew in tandem with the frozen temperature, and soon an entirely new cave stood before them.

It was an enormous space, enough to fit an entire community of people – houses, farms, and all. The stone walls had turned a rich lapis lazuli color, shining without any visible source of light, as if the walls themselves _were_ the source. The ceiling was so high up it wasn’t even visible, countless shelves of ice jutting out from the walls. The floor was slippery with melted ice, chunks the size of small trees strewn carelessly about the space. Yugi could see his breath when he exhaled.

_And_ he could see his breath when he murmured, “Oh, Divines.”

Because the chamber was full of dragons.

He didn’t have time to count, but in the moment, it felt like hundreds. _Hundreds_ of dragons, every color under the sun, sitting, standing, even _flying_ _around_ in the cave. Many were perched on the countless ice shelves, and even more were sitting at ground level.

The stranger dragged Yugi in front of them and shoved him into the center of the chamber. They backed away to stand at the mouth of the cave, returning to a couched, all-fours position. Yugi staggered, trying not to slip on the frozen floor. He stared around the cave, not sure if he should prepare to attack or start running away.

As if he’d spoken his intentions aloud, half the dragons in the chamber turned to look at him. Eyes – too many eyes – of all colors fixed on him, some blinking curiously, some narrowing in anger, some turning away disinterestedly.

Yugi froze as a different consciousness – animal but powerful – prodded his mind, a hint of curiosity in its touch. Remembering his “encounter” with the stranger, he focused all his attention on keeping his barriers intact, throwing up extra walls just in case.

The consciousness prodded at his mind again, this time questioning. It was soon joined by another, more aggressive mind, that knocked down his first layer without issue. Yugi frantically tried to put them back in place as a third mind join the other two, and another, and another.

Five minds – no, six, seven, eight – all poked and rammed and demanded answers to questions without words. He was quickly overwhelmed, unable to hold his walls up as twelve – thirteen, fourteen – minds started tearing him apart, answering their questions on their own, picking him to pieces.

Desperate, he tried to shove them out one at a time, gripping the Pendant so hard his knuckles turned white. His breath came in short pants, and he was sweating despite the chill. None of them left. There were sixteen – seventeen – dragons in his head, all of them with different agendas, each taking a piece of his mind for themselves, pulling him apart like a doll, and it _hurt_. It _hurt_ and he didn’t know how to make them leave, he just wanted them _gone_, he wanted _silence_.

Yugi retreated to the very back of his mind, dug into his Well, and turned the world cyan. The Pendant shook in his hands, he took a breath—

“_Stop it!_”

His scream was accompanied by an electric blue shockwave that exploded from the Eye of the Pendant. He slammed all of the dragons out of his mind, forced his mental walls back up again, and embraced the silence like nothing he ever had before.

As soon as he let go of the spell, he dropped to his knees where he stood, breathing hard, dizzy and drained. _That wasn’t supposed to take so much energy_, he thought.

Around him entire chamber was deathly silent. It was as if every dragon had turned to stone.

Until one of them roared.

Nearly every single dragon in the chamber exploded into thundering cries and growls. Some reared back on the hind legs, wigs spread like they were preparing to take flight. Others snapped their jaws angrily. Countless tails whipped, dozens of claws dug into the ground and tore up the solid stone. Fatigue forgotten, Yugi jumped to his feet and ran for the exit.

A furious snarl was the only warning he had before being tackled to the ground. The Pendant flew from his hands, skidding across the slippery floor. A flash of scales and dark skin was all he needed to see – the stranger was after him too. Their pupils were narrowed to razor thin slits in pool of enraged red, bloodstained teeth bared viciously.

Yugi kicked out, crawling backwards on his elbows. The stranger grabbed both his feet and tossed them to the side, bounding forward on all fours. Yugi rolled over onto his stomach to try and get away, but a heavy weight settled on his back and pinned him down.

Two hands secured his shoulders, a knee pressed into his spine, and a deep, throaty roar erupted into one of his ears. Yugi quailed, closing his eyes tight and holding back a terrified sob.

_Enough!_

Not a single word had been spoken out loud, but the new voice was so commanding in Yugi’s mind that he forgot everything he was thinking to obey it.

The chamber grew silent instantaneously. The only sound left was the stranger’s hoarse breathing in his ear, but even that stilled.

_Release the mage_, said the voice again, wide in its command, projected to the entire room.

The stranger rolled off of Yugi in seconds. He scrambled away as fast as he could, diving for where the Pendant had rolled. He swept it into his arms and hugged it close.

_You are not wise_, said the voice, and the focus of the mental connection sharpened to a point in Yugi’s mind, _to bring such a vestige into our realm_.

Slowly, he turned to the head of the chamber, and he was glad he was already sitting down.

A gigantic black dragon, three times as big as the white one that brought him here, sat at the very front of the chamber. It’s black scales glittered like obsidian, offset by the gemstone-like protrusions that lined its neck, spine, and legs. Its wings were folded, but he saw two wicked claws sticking out from the joint where they bent, like barbs on a rose. A wide black crest fanned across its face, and two hooked horns protruded from its cheeks.

For a moment, Yugi thought he was staring at one of the Wicked Gods – _Divines protect me from the Eraser, Of Destruction_ – but every dragon around the chamber had gone still, heads bowed. Even the stranger had taken to kneeling, crimson tail wrapped politely around their feet.

“Who are you?” Yugi asked, getting to his feet.

The massive dragon tilted its head. _I have no name_._ None that you would understand, in any case_._ But your people once called me Gandora, or The Great Elder._

“My people? Humans?”

_Unless you are not human._

“I am. But humans haven’t interacted with dragons in almost six-hundred years.”

Gandora snorted, a thick cloud of smoke leaving his nostrils. _I do not count my centuries. Does it matter how long it has been since I have been known to you?_

“I guess not. It’s just that everyone has assumed that dragons all died off.”

_Humans assume many things. They are often incorrect. You, for example._

Yugi held the Pendant closer. “Me?”

_Indeed. You have assumed that bringing such a _disgraceful_ thing into the heart of our homeland would end peacefully_. He punctuated the statement with a snarl.

“Disgraceful—?” Yugi held out the Pendant. “You mean this? The Pendant?”

Gandora narrowed his eyes – the color of bone – until they were almost closed. _Yes. That_._ It is an insult to bring it here – and an even greater offense to use it against us_.

Yugi sliced one hand through the air. “I don’t even want to be here, I promise. I’m trying to get back home, and I’ll leave right now and take this thing with me if—”

_Leave, you may_, Gandora interrupted. _But the object – the Pendant, as you call it -- must stay_.

He instinctively hugged the Item close to his chest. “What? Why?”

_My people – all of dragonkind – have been searching for a way to destroy those cruel artifacts for as long as they have been created. They threaten us, they threaten you, and they threaten the world. _

Yugi’s head spun. “Threaten the _world_? We just use them to channel magic—”

_And in doing so, you are feeding a great beast. We tried to warn your people of the danger centuries ago, and they have not listened._

He shook his head – this was all wrong. Humans had never been friendly enough with dragons to gain advice from them. He was still reeling from the fact that Gandora had a name given to him _by_ humans. “No,” he insisted, “I studied the history of the Items for years—”

_If your people choose to hide the truth, it is none of my concern. My concern is for the danger you bring to my people, and your own. Leave the Pendant here, and you may go free_.

“I can’t.”

_Oh? And why not?_

“I’m bonded to the Pendant. If I leave, it’ll go haywire – I’m the only one who can control it.”

Gandora shifted where he sat, sweeping a long tail around his body. _I assure you that dragons are no strangers to magic._

“Maybe not to regular magic, but the Items are their own separate category. There won’t be anyone to control this thing, and it _won’t_ listen to you.”

_We do not need it to listen, we need it eradicated._

Yugi pressed a hand to his head. “With all due respect, humans have been using the Items for centuries, and we _know_ how dangerous they are. This thing—” he lifted the Pendant again “—has tried to kill me more times than I can count. We’ve _tried_ to destroy them, but it’s impossible. The gold is enchanted with dr—” He swallowed, the gravity of the situation dawning on him. “The gold is enchanted with dragon’s blood.”

The Pendant hummed through their bond, as if it was proud of the fact.

Gandora blinked once. _Do you now understand?_

“I understand why you’re insulted by it, but I don’t understand why you need to keep it. Or what makes you think it’ll destroy the world.”

The dragon huffed again, another cloud of smoke pushing through his nostrils. _If you require more of a reason than the safety of your people, then I am afraid I cannot provide one to you._

Yugi pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to need you to do a much better job of convincing me to leave a powerful magical artifact with you than that – an artifact that only _I_ can control, and that will be free to do whatever it wants if I leave.”

_Bold words from one so small_.

He didn’t let himself dwell on the fact that he just back-talked a dragon, and instead asked, “If this thing can destroy the world, why not work _with_ humans to destroy it? We figured out how to control them, after all. There has to be a connection.”

Gandora tilted his head again. _If you are offering your services to our cause, then I will allow you to stay._

“My… services?”

_If you agree to assist in discovering how to destroy the Pendant, you are welcome among us. But_. A deep rumble in the dragon’s chest began the second half of his statement. _Should you stray from that path, or use the magic against us, know that we will not hesitate to strike you down._

Yugi did not doubt that one bit.

He was running out of options. If he tried to leave with the Pendant, he had no doubt the dragons would kill him. If he agreed to leave _without_ it, he would be killed or arrested by whoever was hunting him, because he wouldn’t be able to use access his magic. Even if he wasn’t killed, what then? He couldn’t go to the Tower, not as an empty-handed fugitive. And he wouldn’t ever risk going to back Three Streams with a bounty – no way would he endanger his family and friends. Everywhere else, he’d _just_ be a fugitive. Unless he left the country.

But what would the _point_ of that be? He hadn’t done anything wrong, and the only thing he’d been trying to do this whole time was make up for everything that had gone sideways since that dragon attacked Domino Tower all those months ago. He’d be committing himself to a life of living on the run for no reason.

If he stayed with the dragons, he’d have to help them work out how to destroy the Pendant. But that wasn’t such a bad thing, right? The Items had been studied and researched for hundreds of years and not a single human mage in all that time had figured out how to destroy them. How much more luck could the dragons possibly have? They haven’t even _seen_ the Items in six-hundred years, if Gandora was to be believed. Eventually, they’d give up. They’d _have_ to.

“Alright,” Yugi said, straightening up and looking Gandora directly in the eye, “I’ll help you destroy the Pendant.”

A huge tug in the back of his mind, along with a not-so-subtle burning in his hands told Yugi that the Pendant didn’t quite agree with this course of action. He ignored it; this thing wanted him dead on a regular basis. It could put up with his imperfect plan for a little while.

Gandora, on the other hand, nodded his gigantic head, and said, _It is decided. I will ensure to my people that you can be trusted,_

“Haven’t they been listening the whole time?”

_Dragons do not communicate in the way the humans do. We speak entirely through memories, emotions, and pure connection of consciousness. I am the last of my kind that remembers your language, and you are the first human we have interacted with in many centuries. _

That certainly explained the assault he suffered. But the stranger… did they not count as human?

Before he could ask, Gandora drew out of Yugi’s mind and turned his attention to the room at large. The chamber was silent for several minutes as the Great Elder relayed their conversation in a way that dragons would be able to understand. One by one, the dragons looked up toward Gandora. Some of them looked at Yugi with wide, alien eyes. He shuffled his feet while he waited, warily eyeing the beasts that surrounded him on all sides and the stranger still kneeling several feet away.

The powerful presence of Gandora’s mind asserted itself into Yugi’s again. _It is done_.

“What happens now?” he asked.

_Now, we must find you a place to stay. The mountains where my people roost are far too cold and dangerous for one as small as you. _ Gandora’s connection opened wider, inviting another person into their conversation like how he addressed the room before. _Mage_—

“Yugi,” he interrupted. “My name is Yugi.”

Gandora blinked, and the tip of his tail flicked. _Very well. Yugi, you will be staying with the half-blood._

The what?

Another series of stomach-turning clicks erupted from the stranger – half-blood, apparently – as they shot to their feet. They looked between Gandora and Yugi with an expression that read _No way! Are you crazy?_ as clear as if they’d said it out loud. Yugi couldn’t help but agree.

“With all due respect,” he said, “I don’t think that’s going to make either of us very comfortable.”

_Comfort is not my object, _Gandora said, dismissive. _You must be supervised by a trusted member of our community, and he is the only being that dwells at a safe height for you. It is either the half-blood, or freezing to death_.

Yugi _really_ wasn’t having very good luck with his options today, was he?

Off to the side, the stranger’s tail thrashed angrily. They – _he_, according to Gandora – looked to be in no better position than Yugi was.

He sighed, resigning himself to his fate. “I understand.”

Gandora nodded his great head and faced the second half of the arrangement. The stranger’s red eyes narrowed in Yugi’s direction, but he looked up at Gandora and bowed his head politely, huffing through his nose.

_Excellent_, Gandora said. _I trust you shall… not kill each other._

Yugi would have laughed if the stranger hadn’t almost torn his throat out ten minutes ago. “Does he have a name?”

_Every dragon has a name unique to those they speak to. He has as many names as people who know him_.

“So what am I supposed to call him?”

_That is up to you. Now—_

Gandora spread his massive wings, and sound of the membrane unfolding was like the crash of ocean waves on rocks.

_Leave._

Yugi turned on his heel and marched out of the chamber without complaint. Several clicks told him that the stranger was following close behind. He jumped out of the way as the flash of the scaled cloak tore by at waist height, the stranger bounding on all fours down the winding path they entered from.

Gandora’s voice rang in Yugi’s head one last time. _You will begin your studies of the Pendant tomorrow, when the sun is highest_, he instructed. _An escort will be sent to lead you to the proper place. Do not keep them waiting._

The great dragon’s presence receded and Yugi exhaled heavily as he continued down the cave. What had he gotten himself into?

The stranger was waiting for him at the mouth of the cave, standing on two legs with his arms folded and tail swishing impatiently.

“Sorry, you run fast,” Yugi said, before remembering that the stranger wouldn’t understand a word of it. “Uh, can I…?” He tapped the side of his head, and hoped that would get the message across.

The tail stop swishing to hang in the air, the end just barely quivering. Red eyes regarded him with suspicion, flicking between his face and the Pendant in his arms.

“Oh. Yeah, okay.” Yugi put the Pendant on the ground and folded his hands behind his back.

Despite how their first meeting had gone, Yugi let the stranger reach out to _him_ first. He didn’t want to make him angry, and he had already promised to be on his best behavior while he was staying with the dragons. He still couldn’t believe he’d agreed to that.

Like a wild animal approaching an oblivious catch, Yugi felt the careful prodding of another mind at his own. It was wound into a tight cord, ready to strike or retreat at a moment’s notice. He didn’t let his walls down, but he did reach out with a strand of his own consciousness, as amicable as he could make it. A friendly “mental handshake” like this was how he’d learned how to reach out with his mind at the Tower – hopefully it would meet the same reception outside the classroom.

The stranger’s mind skirted around the offering, not fully running away, but not risking an approach. Yugi held still, waiting. Sudden movements wouldn’t make this any easier. He was patient. And motivated to ensure he’d still be alive the next morning.

At length, the string of the stranger’s mind brushed against his own, the very end of a _strong_ suspicion meeting Yugi’s cordial greeting. He marveled again at the bizarre state of the stranger’s consciousness, the alien nature of a mind that wasn’t quite human. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before – not even touching minds with _real_ animals felt like this. It was halfway between frightening and fascinating. 

Yugi pushed against the stranger’s mind, meeting the careful brush with a firm grasp. As precarious as his situation was, he wanted to read deeper into the curious state of the other’s consciousness. He wanted to know_ more_.

Bad idea.

The string of the stranger’s mind wrapped around Yugi’s suffocated it, trapping it like a snare. He couldn’t pull away, and he couldn’t push forward. A heavy pulse of warning and anger fed down the connection where their minds met. A threat.

In the physical world, the stranger stalked forward to meet Yugi face to face. He snarled with all his teeth, the blood from the night’s battle only just fading to a light pink stain. Yugi clenched every muscle in his body, staring right into the eyes of someone who could kill him at a moment’s notice. He wished he hadn’t put the Pendant down.

The stranger snatched the cord of his mind back so hard Yugi was surprised a piece of his own didn’t break off with it. The scale cloak flashed as he turned and huffed aggressively, disappearing around the lip of the cave into the night. Yugi followed, not really given much of a choice. He scooped the Pendant off the ground, and only half-registered the faint glow.

The stranger stopped only once on their trip to pick up his discarded dragon skull, but otherwise kept a swift pace. Instead of following the wide path up the mountain that Yugi had noticed before, the stranger went the opposite way, down a path that hugged closer to the wall of the mountain. Though it was still wide enough for three people to walk abreast without trouble, it wasn’t nearly big enough for a dragon.

It was all Yugi could do to keep up with his escort, one hand brushing the stone to keep his balance. The stranger didn’t ever stop to make sure he was still there, or even acknowledge him at all. If he hadn’t had the skull tucked under one arm, Yugi was sure he would have gotten down on all fours and sprinted away.

Finally, the stranger slowed to a stop at the mouth of another dark cave. It was smaller than the one they had just left, but it could still fit a house inside it easily. Yugi lingered at the entrance as the stranger slipped inside. He couldn’t see anything.

“Hope you don’t mind,” he muttered, and reached for his magic.

When the world faded to cyan, Yugi snapped his fingers. A palm-sized, heatless flame appeared to hover just above his hand.

A loud clatter and a growl came from inside the now-revealed interior as Yugi stepped in. He swung the flame around to the source of the noise, and saw the stranger, down on all fours again, and staring at the flame like it would attack him at any moment. Bones were scattered all around the cave floor, picked clean. The dragon skull sat among them.

“It’s just a light,” Yugi explained, futilely.

The stranger backed up until he was pressed against the opposite wall. Yugi thought he was afraid until he turned around, and crawled up the side of the wall in seconds. The stranger swung himself onto a wide-ish stone shelf that jutted out from the wall, perching there and glaring down at Yugi with blood red eyes.

Yugi slumped against the nearest wall. He put the light out and released his magic. In the darkness, something shuffled. Probably the stranger.

But the half-dragon – if that’s what he was – wasn’t _really_ the stranger now, was he? _Yugi_ was the stranger, in the mountains with the dragons and a magic artifact he bet his own life on. It really wouldn’t be right to keep calling him “the stranger.”

_Gandora said whatever I call him is up to me_, he thought. _So I guess I just have to make something up._

The only thing he knew about this half-dragon was just that. Calling him “half-dragon” didn’t really sit right, though. It was in the same vein as his previous name. Something obvious, then. Something generic.

_Well, I know he’s red_, Yugi considered. _What if I called him Red?_

It was an awful name. But it was the only one that made sense.

“Red it is,” he said, entirely to himself. He curled his knees up to his chest, and set the Pendant in the tiny gap it formed. He resigned himself to not sleeping very much tonight, and wondered again:

_What have I gotten myself into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first and second halves of this chapter were written like a month apart, because i can only focus on one project for 20 minutes before i get a new idea

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr as livingthedragonlife or on my writeblr as ink-flavored! any comments and feedback are appreciated! <3


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